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THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT IN 
RELIGIOUS THOUGHT. 



THE 

CHANGING VIEW-POINT 
IN RELIGIOUS 

THOUGHT and 

OTHER SHORT STUDIES IN PRESENT 
RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS 



BY 

HENRY THOMAS COLESTOCK, AM., B.D., 

Pastor of the First Baptist Church, Madison, Wisconsin. 
Sometime Fellow in the University of Chicago. 



"We easily imagine our own to be the only tenable view, 
until we see by what steps of progress it was unfolded from 
the past. No form of doctrine has ever been final, but a 
multitude of forms have followed one another, each passing 
on its vitality and value to that which came after it." — 
William N. Clarke. 



NEW YORK 

E. B. TREAT & COMPANY 

241-243 West 23D Street 
1901 



1 






THE LIBRARY OF 

CONGRESS, 
Two Cores Received 

APR. 22 1901 

Copyright entry 
CLASS O/XXc. N«. 

7' o 

COPY B. 



Z: 



Copyright, 1901 
By E. B. TREAT & COMPANY 



A TOKEN OF GRATITUDE TO 

MY MOTHER 

WHOSE LIFE OF TRUSTFUL FELLOWSHIP 

WITH GOD 

HAS TAUGHT ME MORE ABOUT 

RELIGION 

THAN CAN BE LEARNED FROM 

BOOKS. 



NOTE. 

Some of the chapters of this volume were first 
contributed to various periodicals and are now re- 
printed with permission of the Publishers in whose 
journals they appeared: Chapter I., in The New 
World; chapters IV., V., and XVIII., in Jlie Treasury 
Magazine; chapter XII., in The Baptist Common- 
wealth; chapters XIII. and XX., in The Baptist Out- 
look; chapter XVI., in The Standard; chapter XIX., 
in The Church Union. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER PAGB 

Introduction 13 

I. — The Changing View-Point in Religious 

Thought 19 

II. — Beginning the Christian Life 45 

III. — After Conversion, What ? 57 

IV. — Testimony to the Truth ; or, The Mission 

of Christ 67 

V. — The Immanent Divine Life; or, The Divinity 

of Christ 77 

VI. — Vicarious Suffering 91 

VII. — Crucified with Christ 101 

VIII. — Self-Renunciation = 113 

IX. — Repentance 125 

X. — Forgiveness 139 

XI. — The Recovery of the Soul 149 

XII. — The Heavenly Father ; or, God's Relation 

to Man 163 

XIII. — Realizing Divine Sonship 171 

XIV. — The Example of Jesus 181 

XV — Religion — Living in the Consciousness of 

the Divine Presence 189 

XVI. — The Sheltering Presence 195 

XVII. — Related and Unrelated Power 203 

XVIII. — The Common Element of Truth in Christian 

Science and Divine Healing 215 

XIX. — Old Testament Conceptions of Satan 227 

XX. — Relation of Human Progress to the King- 
dom of God 235 

XXI. — Looking at the Unseen 247 

XXII. — Gifts of the Old Century to the New 261 

XXIII. — Adding to our Inheritance 275 

XXIV. — Each Age Finding Its Own Christ, 287 



•• God sends his teachers unto every age, 
To every clime, and every race of men, 
With revelations fitted to their growth 
And shape of mind, nor gives the realm of Truth 
Into the selfish rule of one sole race ; 
Therefore each form of worship that hath swayed 
The life of man, and given it to grasp 
The master-key of knowledge, reverence, 
Infolds some germs of goodness and of right;; 
Else never had the eager soul, which loathes 
The slothful down of pampered ignorance, 
Found in it even a moment's fitful rest." 

— Lowell. 



INTRODUCTION. 



One of the first principles in the art of land- 
scape painting is to know where to sit down ; for 
everything depends upon the point of view. But 
the view-point is no more important to the artist 
than to the student of history, sociology, science 
or religion. For in any department of investiga- 
tion or serious thinking the result depends not less 
upon the ability and insight of the investigator 
than upon what may be termed his point of view. 

In our thinking on religious subjects the im- 
portance of the view-point cannot be exaggerated. 
For the difference between the old and the newer 
thought is not that modern thought denies any 
of the realities of the religious experience; the dif- 
ference comes from the fact of a changed point 
of view. 

But this is not always understood by the in- 
dividual who departs from the older religious 
thought. If he has had to give up his early be- 
liefs so that he has no fellowship with his former 
religious associates, it is easy for him to think 
that he has lost his religion, when in reality he is 



i 4 INTRODUCTION. 

as religious as he ever was, and perhaps more so 
than before; but he occupies a changed point of 
view, from which he sees things in a new light. 
He may think he is not religious because his early- 
beliefs have become meaningless to him when 
the change is not at all one of character or a de- 
nial of spiritual realities; he simply sees things 
differently. And it may be that such a person will 
be saved from religious indifference by being 
shown that it is not he but his view-point, his way 
of looking at things, that has changed. 

And no less does the champion of orthodoxy 
need to be reminded that divine realities may not 
appear exactly the same when viewed from dif- 
ferent altitudes. He who has neither gone down 
into the valley nor up to the mountain top, hav- 
ing dwelt all his life on the spot selected by his 
ancestors centuries ago, will naturally think his 
view to be the only one. He may be unable to 
change his way of looking at things; but it is 
never too late to learn that each of us sees only 
what we are able to see, and that truth and God 
are so great that our individual views of them 
must always be partial and imperfect, though 
they may not be untrue so far as they go. The 
traditionalist needs to learn that goodness, like- 
ness to Christ in character, are far surer pass- 
ports to heaven than correctness of theological 
opinion. 



INTRO D C/CT/ON. 1 5 

There are also those who have given up their 
old statements of religious beliefs, who, no longer 
believing the creeds of their churches, are at- 
tempting to solve the religious problem by not 
thinking about it. They are afraid to think, for 
thinking brings them into disagreement with their 
church. This remedy is worse than the disease. 
Religion cannot long remain vital where serious 
and independent thought is stifled. 

These studies are given to the public because 
they have helped some of my hearers to a better 
understanding of the changing view-point in re- 
ligious thought. They are not intended for the 
trained theologian. My purpose has been to pass 
on to the busy man or woman some suggestions 
for which I am profoundly grateful; for they 
came to me when I had lost my old view-point 
and was in danger of thinking that it was my re- 
ligion instead of my point of view that was gone. 

In the opening chapter I attempt to discuss the 
philosophy of the view-point in religious 
thought. The subject has required a formal treat- 
ment and may not be interesting to some of my 
readers; while others will find in it the reason 
for the chapters that follow. 

The old-time method of inducting persons into 
the church by the impassioned appeal to the emo- 
tions has had its day. As the emotional type of 
religious experience gives way to the ethical, re- 



X 6 INTRODUCTION. 

ligious education takes the place of the appeal to 
the emotions. Never before in the history of the 
church has so great responsibility come upon Sun- 
day-school teachers and parents; for more than 
formerly depends upon religious education, and 
less upon the revival effort. 

Parents and Sunday-school teachers should be- 
come as familiar as possible with modern relig- 
ious thought, so that the religious ideas of the 
young will not have to be unlearned as the child 
passes into mature life. The child should not be 
taught any idea of God or of himself or of the 
world which does not fit in with the ideas which 
he will learn later in science and philosophy. This 
is not to teach the child science or philosophy; 
but to refrain from teaching traditional or even 
Biblical ideas on these subjects which are not in 
accord with some sound thinking to-day. The 
child should not be sent to Genesis for his ideas 
of the creation, any more than for his ideas of the 
family. For along both lines the divine Spirit 
has taught humanity many things since the pa- 
triarchs. Neither should the religious experience 
be interpreted in the thought of Calvin any more 
than the heavenly bodies be explained in the 
thought of astronomers before Copernicus. 

One of the greatest needs of the church to-day 
is for sound religious instruction of children in 
the home and in the Sunday-schools. By " sound" 



INTRODUCTION. 17 

I do not mean sound in any theological sense ; but 
that which accords with what is accepted to be 
true in education. For if the mother teaches her 
child one idea of creation and this is held as a 
part of his religious instruction, and the schools 
teach a different idea to him in later years, there 
will be a conflict between religion and science; 
and the process of adjustment may be very pain- 
ful. It may even cause the young man to become 
indifferent to religion, because he has had to give 
up his early idea of creation, which he held as a 
part of his religious conceptions. How careful, 
therefore, parents should be in teaching religious 
ideas to their children! They, above ministers 
even, should understand the changing view-point 
in religious thought. 

It is the purpose of these studies to aid parents 
to set forth the religious experience in terms 
which will accord with all that is true in present- 
day education. The need is not so much for def- 
inite ideas as for a point of view. 



" We speak of this article as remarkable, not because it is 
in itself novel, but because its frank acceptance and clear 
interpretation of certain modern views concerning theology 
mark distinctively the tendency away from scholastic to 
vital forms of thought in the Baptist as in other denomi- 
nations We need hardly say that, in our judgment, 

Mr. Colestock has rightly interpreted both the New Testa- 
ment, the history of the past, and the tendencies of the 
present, so far as he has gone in his paper." — The Outlook 
reviewing a paper which was read before the Baptist Min- 
isters' Meeting of Chicago, and which, in a revised form, is 
the first chapter of this book. 

" There is special need of learning to distinguish between 
our present conception of truth and eternal truth itself." — 
William N. Clarke. 

• 4 Our little systems have their day; 

They have their day and cease to be : 

They are but broken lights of thee, 

And thou, O Lord, art more than they." 

— Tennyson. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT IN RELIGIOUS 
THOUGHT. 

That their laws came directly from heaven 
was the belief, we are told, of all primitive peo- 
ples. Culture-history reveals the origin of many 
of these laws, and makes evident that all of them 
were the results of slow and gradual develop- 
ments in tribal customs and usages. In the vari- 
ous world-religions it is held alike by adherents 
of each that their doctrines came directly from 
God fully developed. The same idea finds ex- 
pression in simply another form in the belief of 
many Christians, both cultured and uncultured, 
who hold that the doctrines which they were 
taught in early life are final and ultimate inter- 
pretations of the facts of Christianity, and that 
these doctrines, as they themselves hold them, 
have always been the belief of true Christians. 

That religious doctrines should have this ab- 
solute authority and finality for so many is 
perfectly natural; the object of the religious faith 
being divine, the religious consciousness trans- 



20 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

fers the same quality to the formula which ex- 
presses its faith. This transference is due to a 
well-known psychological illusion which invests 
the form of a statement with the essence of the 
reality. 

One of the causes which keeps many Chris- 
tians out of the church is the insistence of the 
church upon the absolute authority and finality 
of its present teachings; these doctrines being 
regarded as inseparably connected with the 
essence of Christianity. It not infrequently 
happens that individuals of the best Christian 
character are unable to interpret their own Chris- 
tian experience in terms insisted upon by the 
church: from several years of close association 
with young men and women getting their edu- 
cation, my observation has been that many stu- 
dents are alienated from the church, and become 
indifferent to the claims of Christianity, because 
some of the facts of the Christian religion are so 
interpreted as either to shock their moral sensi- 
bilities, or make it impossible for them to corre- 
late these interpretations with what they have ac- 
cepted as true in science or philosophy. The re- 
sult is that, where the finality of the traditional 
interpretations of Christianity is emphasized, 
many who are in reality good Christians are re- 
garded, and come to regard themselves, as outside 
of the church and not in sympathy with Christian- 



THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 21 

ity. They believe many things which they do not 
dare to believe as Christians; and, on the other 
hand, they cannot believe some things which they 
understand are essential to Christianity. Such an 
attitude is not taken by preference; frequently 
it is accompanied by a severe struggle, a struggle 
in some cases never to be forgotten. 

For this class, at least, the necessity exists for 
such an interpretation of the facts of Christianity 
as will fit in with all that is fundamentally true in 
any realm of investigation, and presents a view of 
God which is in full accord with what we know to 
be highest in man. Such an interpretation of the 
work of Christ many persons are unable to find in 
the traditional and scholastic statements of belief 
which have come down to us from the Reforma- 
tion period, or earlier. Consequently there has de- 
veloped, during the past few decades, and mark- 
edly during the past decade, a strong tendency 
away from all forms of the idea of substitution; 
and, in our thinking on religion, as in our thought 
on all other topics of vital interest, we are passing 
to a changed view-point. And in religious think- 
ing, as in astronomy, the point of view is the 
important thing. 

This diverging tendency, from the standpoint 
of the student of church history, is a natural one, 
and, therefore, inevitable, since historical criticism 
reveals church doctrines as successive develop- 



22 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

ments in Christian thought, and as occupying well- 
defined stages in attaining to a fuller and worthier 
view of the life and work of our Saviour. 

In attempting to show the reasonableness of this 
position, three points will occupy our attention: 
First, the question what is the central principle of 
Christianity; secondly, the relation between the 
doctrines of the church and this central principle ; 
and, thirdly, the application of this relationship to 
the idea of substitution. 

We are stating an old question when we ask 
what is the essence of Christianity. But it is a 
question which needs to be answered by every gen- 
eration, and by every thoughtful individual. The 
answers which have been given differ widely. By 
one body of Christians we are told that it consists 
in " the institution and infallible authority of the 
church" ; others would prefer this or that doc- 
trine — justification by faith, the authority of the 
Scriptures, the divinity and preexistence of Christ. 
It soon becomes evident that the answer to our 
question cannot be found in confessions or creeds ; 
for there must be one central principle, which all 
creeds seek to express in form. 

We are approaching the answer to our inquiry 
when we recall that Jesus never exhorted those 
who would become his followers to believe any 
doctrine concerning God or himself. His constant 
appeal was, "Believe in God, and believe in me." 



THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 23 

His conception of true religion was that it consists 
in relationship : " My sheep hear my voice, and I 
know them, and they follow me"; and, again, 
" Abide in me, and I in you." " He that has the 
Son has the life; he that has not the Son of God 
has not the life." 

The central principle of Christianity is not an 
idea or doctrine, but a relation. This is in full ac- 
cord with the true religious consciousness of hu- 
manity. Divested of all that is local or temporary, 
religion is an inner experience; it is " the life of 
man in his superhuman relations." Religion is 
universal and natural to man. Before the dawn of 
history religion was ; " it has survived all change, 
all revolution, all stages of culture and progress. 
Cut down a thousand times, the ancient stem has 
always sent new branches forth." 

The conception of this relationship varies with 
the environment, and is subject to the laws of de- 
velopment. All religions embody some phase of 
a relationship between man and a higher power; 
Christianity carries this relationship into the realm 
of the perfect and the ideal. This ideal relation- 
ship between man and God is set forth in the life 
of Christ. Christianity is, therefore, inseparably 
connected with the person of Christ. His follow- 
ers are Christians, in reality, in proportion as they 
enter into fellowship with Christ in his perfect re- 
lationship to God; in proportion as the filial re- 



24 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

lationship of Jesus is reproduced by the spirit of 
God in them. 

Christianity, in its essence, is not doctrine, but 
life. Life, however, is manifested in forms. The 
fact of filial relationship with God is expressed in 
character; the philosophy, the how, of this rela- 
tionship, is expressed in doctrines and beliefs. 
We have now to notice the relation between the 
central principle of Christianity and the doctrines 
of the church. 

From what has been said, it will appear that 
true religion did not begin with Jesus Christ, but 
rather that he carried true religion to its highest 
degree of expression and realization. In Jesus the 
self-revelation of God culminates in making Deity 
known to man as Father. What we see true in 
the religious consciousness of Jesus is true, to 
some degree, of his followers. Sinful men are 
brought into filial relations with God by coming 
into fellowship with Jesus Christ. 

Jesus taught no system of doctrines ; he sought 
by his life and by the enunciation of great relig- 
ious and ethical principles to awaken the moral 
life, to free the soul from bondage to external 
precepts and traditional regulations. 

The Christian church, in its various forms, is 
an organism through which Christianity ex- 
presses and transmits itself. The church gives 
expression to its inner religious life in a state- 



THE CHANGING VIEW -POINT. 25 

ment or formula. The church passes through 
various stages of development, in which the life- 
principle remains the same, but the philosophical 
interpretation of it varies according to the point 
of view both of the age and of the individual. In 
this way we get the phenomena of a historical 
development of doctrine. Doctrines are first ex- 
perienced, then formulated. St. Paul's expe- 
rience differs from that of St. John ; so, in inter- 
preting the same facts, each has an individual 
emphasis. The political, physical and metaphys- 
ical ideas that prevail at any given period influ- 
ence the form of the doctrines of the church more 
than has been generally recognized. 

We should then expect to find the doctrines of 
the church in a state of continual transformation. 
This is exactly what exists when the religious life 
is normal and free. The soul remains the same, 
the inner life of piety persists ; but the body, the 
outward expression of the inner life, is constantly 
being renewed. 

It has been pointed out that the religious con- 
sciousness is peculiarly subject to a psychological 
illusion of transferring the divine quality of the 
object of worship to the doctrines in which the 
religious life has expressed itself. All religions 
afford abundant illustrations of the truth of this 
statement. The doctrines accepted, being re- 
garded as divine, are projected by one method or 



26 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

another back into a certain remote period when, it 
is claimed, they came directly from the Deity. In 
a certain sense, this view of the origin of doctrinal 
statements contains a most important truth. Every 
righteous law and statement of truth, and espe- 
cially of moral truth, is, we believe, due to the 
mysterious influence of the Spirit of God work- 
ing in the hearts of humanity. God certainly is 
the great moral teacher of man. But the error of 
this view, in our judgment, consists in limiting 
God's teaching to a certain period of time, and in 
making it external. God is not limited to any 
period, but is teaching through all noble and lofty 
souls, and is present as the cause and inspiration 
of the whole religious development of humanity. 
" God is a living God, and has not spoken his last 
word on any subject/'* It naturally follows that, 
by whatever method a doctrine has come to be 
regarded as of divine origin, the religious con- 
sciousness of those who accept it attributes to the 
doctrine finality and absolute authority. So long 
as the inner life of the church dominates the ex- 
ternal expression of it, little harm will result from 
holding this position. But when the form domi- 
nates the life, then the adherents of such a view 
are in danger of legislating over the consciences 
of their fellowmen. The Inquisition and legal 
persecutions of one body of Christians by an- 
*Northrup, ct Class-room Notes." 



THE CHANGING VIEW -POINT. 27 

other are the legitimate effects of the idea of the 
finality and absolute authority of a doctrinal state- 
ment, when carried to its logical conclusion in a 
state of society which will permit such atrocities. 
Moral persecution is the method followed when 
the state of society makes the other impossible. 
This form of persecution is quite as painful in 
its way, and quite as effective, as the less refined 
methods of a ruder age. The attempt to force 
men to accept certain doctrines, either by phys- 
ical torture or by subjecting them to prolonged 
moral persecution, grows out of an erroneous con- 
ception of the essence of Christianity and of 
the true nature of the church. 

We have examined the religious consciousness, 
and have found the central principle of Christian- 
ity to be the fact of filial relationship — a life-prin- 
ciple, not an idea or dogma. The filial piety of 
man, freely expressing itself in his social rela- 
tions, gives birth to a religious community, the 
:hurch. 

At first, all who have had this filial piety 
awakened in them become members of this com- 
munity. There are no other tests for member- 
ship ; the fact of possessing the inner life-principle 
is the only condition. The Christian experience 
is characterized by great fervor and ardent devo- 
tion. The fact of the new relationship to God, not 
a philosophy of it, is rightly deemed as of more 



28 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

importance. This, of course, is precisely what we 
ought to expect ; for, in the primitive church, as 
in any other primitive society, life ripens into 
form very slowly. " If the life of a church be 
compared to that of a plant, doctrine holds in it 
the place of the seed. Like the seed, doctrine is 
the last to be formed; it crowns and closes the 
annual cycle of vegetation ; but it is necessary that 
it should form and ripen, for it carries within it the 
power of life and the germ of a new develop- 
ment."* The relation, therefore, between the life- 
principle of Christianity and the doctrines of the 
church is that which exists between life and form ; 
the life is primary and fundamental, the form is 
historical and secondary; but in the religious de- 
velopment the form " has an organic place that 
cannot be taken away from it, and a practical im- 
portance that cannot be contested/' 

We pass now to the application of this relation- 
ship between life and form to the idea of substi- 
tution. "Three things will demand our attention : 
First, an exposition of the idea itself; secondly, 
the antecedents of the substitutionary idea ; and, 
lastly, the present transition from substitution to 
the next stage of thought. I am aware that an 
adequate treatment of these topics would far ex- 
ceed the limits of this chapter; the following is of- 
fered as a mere outline. 

* A. Sabatier, "Outlines of a Philosophy of Religion," p. 
242. 



THE CHANGING VIEW -POINT. 



29 



The essence of any theory of the life and work 
of Christ can be seen in the answers which it gives 
to the following questions: " What was the im- 
mediate end accomplished by Christ by his obe- 
dience, sufferings and death? What was the 
nature of the sufferings which Christ endured in 
accomplishing this end ? What was the method of 
operation by which, what he did and suffered, 
avails to secure the salvation of men?"* 

Embedded in the system of its advocates, the 
idea of substitution is expressed thus : " God, to 
whom we were hateful through sin, was appeased 
by the death of his Son, and made propitious to 
us."f The great founder of the substitutionary 
theory of the work of Christ answers that the im- 
mediate end of the obedience, sufferings and death 
of Christ was to appease God and to make him 
favorably disposed to man. Another quotation 
from the same author : " Again, it is necessary to 
consider how he substituted himself in order to 
pay the price of our redemption. Death held us 
under its yoke, but he, in our place, delivered him- 
self unto its power, that he might exempt us from 
it :i . . . . then Christ interposed, took the 
punishment upon himself, and bore what, by just 
judgment of God, was impending over sinners, 

*Northrup, * 'Class-room Notes." 
t Calvin, "Institutes," II. 17, 3. 
% Calvin, "Institutes," II. 16, 7. 



3 o THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

with his own blood expiated the sin which ren- 
dered them hateful to God, by this expiation sat- 
isfied and duly propitiated God the Father, by this 
intercession appeased his anger, on this basis 
founded peace between God and men, and by this 
tie secured the divine benevolence toward them."* 
These quotations represent Christ as paying to 
God the price of our redemption, that is, he satis- 
fied the anger of God, and took the punishment 
upon himself — was punished in the place of the 
sinner. This system, therefore, answers our sec- 
ond question as to the nature of the sufferings of 
Christ by declaring that they were penal, punish- 
ment inflicted by God upon our Saviour, in order 
that divine anger might be appeased, and God be- 
ing thus appeased might become favorably dis- 
posed toward the sinner. " The Father is stern 
and wrathful ; the Son is tender and pitiful : the 
Father has lifted his hand to strike and destroy; 
the Son, moved by a holy passion to save, has 
flung himself into the very path of descending 
judgment, to receive the shock upon his own per- 
son." In these words Dr. C. C. Hall sets forth 
a position which he personally repudiates, but con- 
siders central in the system of thought we are dis- 
cussing. " Can this be our deepest and best 
thought of God,"f he asks. 

* Calvin, "Institutes," II. 16, 2. 

f Hall, "The Gospel of the Divine Sacrifice." 



THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 



3i 



An integral part of this doctrine is the method 
by which the sufferings and death of Christ avail 
to secure the end in view. We quote again from 
the founder of the system under consideration : 
" By predestination we mean the eternal decree of 
God, by which he determines with himself what- 
ever he wishes to happen, with regard to every 
man. All are not created on equal terms, but some 
are preordained to eternal life, others to eternal 
damnation; arid, accordingly as each had been 
created for one or the other of these ends, we say 
that he has been predestinated to life or to death."* 
Fearing lest he may be misunderstood on this es- 
sential part of his system, Calvin continues to ex- 
pound his system more fully. He says : " Many 
professing a desire to defend the Deity from an in- 
vidious charge admit the doctrine of election, but 
deny that any one is reprobated. This they do 
ignorantly arid childishly, since there could be no 
election without its opposite, reprobation. God is 
said to set apart those whom he adopts for salva- 
tion. It were most absurd to say that he admits 
others fortuitously, or that they, by their industry, 
acquire what election alone can confer on a few. 
Those, therefore, whom God passes by he repro- 
bates, and that for no other cause but because he is 
pleased to exclude them from the inheritance 
* Calvin, "Institutes," III. 21, 5. 



32 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

which he predestinates to his children."* In an- 
other paragraph elsewhere, this doctrine is carried 
to its logical end : "I say, with Augustine, that 
the Lord has created those who, as he certainly 
foreknew, were to go to destruction, and he did so 
became he so willed, "t 

Calvin, surely, cannot be accused of being illog- 
ical ; he accepts, as some of his followers do not, 
the full consequences of his fundamental positions. 
But the better the logic, the worse it is for the sys- 
tem, if the fundamental premises are wrong. Did 
Christ die for all men ? No, says Calvin ; he died 
only for the elect. The elect are sure of salvation ; 
the non-elect are sure of damnation. Christ paid 
the penalty due the elect ; he suffered exactly what 
they should have suffered. Therefore they will be 
saved, not because of any quality in themselves, 
but because they have been elected to salvation. 
This is the method by which Christ's work avails 
to accomplish the salvation of those who are saved. 

The idea of substitution has been included in the 
prevailing beliefs to Protestant Christians from 
the Reformation to the present time. I omit nu- 
merous quotations from Dwight, Edwards, Fin- 
ney, Hodge, Hovey, Miley, Shedd, Strong, and 
other theologians, which would show that, though 
variously modified, the idea of substitution is fun- 

* Calvin, "Institutes," III. 23, 1. 
f Calvin, "Institutes," II. 23, 5. 



THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 33 

damentally essential to the theory of the life and 
work of our Lord, as interpreted by these repre- 
sentative American theologians. Quotations 
from English or Scotch divines would serve the 
same end. 

By the term " idea of substitution' ' it is evident 
we do not mean the substitutionary theory of the 
atonement; the term includes all the interpreta- 
tions of the life and work of our Lord, which rep- 
resent him as performing any function in the sin- 
ner's place, in order to favorably dispose the mind 
of God towards man. Among others, these three 
phases of the idea of substitution are the more 
prevalent: those which represent Christ as bear- 
ing the identical penalty due the elect; or, as 
bearing a penalty equivalent to the punishment 
due the elect; or, as bearing the penalty de- 
manded by the Governor of the universe in or- 
der that the forgiveness of sin may not endanger 
moral government. 

We have seen what the idea of substitution is, 
as set forth by Calvin; he held to all the logical 
consequences of his premises. Many of the later 
advocates of this idea have marred Calvin's logic 
in their endeavor to humanize their conception of 
God. We pass now to consider the antecedents 
of the idea of substitution. It is commonly be- 
lieved by the average individual, untrained in the 
history of the doctrines of the church, that the 



34 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

idea of substitution has always been the true 
view of Christ's work, that it has been held in all 
successive generations since the time of Christ, 
and was uniformly taught by the writers of the 
New Testament. It is well known, however, that 
" the earliest Christian literature contains only 
general statements concerning the reconciling 
work of Christ, reproducing the expressions of 
the New Testament, but not developing them into 
any definite forms of doctrine. The experimental 
interest is here greater than the philosophical or 
the systematizing."* Says Harnack: "The es- 
sential character of Christendom, in its first pe- 
riod, was a new holy life and a sure hope, both 
based on repentance toward God and faith in 
Jesus Christ, and brought about by the Holy 
Spirit. . . . But, in consequence of the nat- 
uralizing of Christianity in the world and the re- 
pelling of heresy, a formulated creed was made 
the basis of the church. . . . Christendom 
protected itself by this conception, though no 
doubt at a heavy price. "f 

When Christian philosophers began to construct 
a system of the doctrine of the church, their first 
attempts resulted in what is known as the Satan 
theory, Irenseus and Origen are the two great 

* W. N. Clarke, "An Outline of Christian Theology," p. 
289. 
f Harnack, "History of Dogma," vol. ii, pp. 73, 74. 



THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 35 

names associated with its early history. " Ac- 
cording to this theory, the death of Christ was a 
ransom paid to Satan for the deliverance of man- 
kind for his power."* This view of the work of 
Christ was the orthodox doctrine of the church 
for over a thousand years. There are several pas- 
sages in the New Testament which, taken as iso- 
lated sentences, seem to furnish some basis for 
this belief. 

In the eleventh century the Satan theory be- 
gan to give way to a worthier view advocated by 
Anselm : the ransom was not paid to Satan, but 
to God. In the Anselmic theory, the death of 
Christ is regarded as satisfaction to divine 
majesty. This approaches the idea of substitu- 
tion, and was fully developed by Calvin, in the 
sixteenth century. From the time of the Refor- 
mation to the present, the idea of substitution has 
been the dominant orthodox interpretation of 
the work of Christ. That is, the work of Christ 
is the cause of God's love to us. " Christ is thus 
represented to the mind as having, in his love and 
compassion, stepped between man and God to 
make God feel differently toward man, to make 
him love man, who, but for Christ, would not 
have loved man."f This conception of the work 
of Christ, which is the central principle of the idea 

*Northrup, "Class-room Notes." 

f Hall, "The Gospel of the Divine Sacrifice," p. 10, 



36 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

of substitution, does not, in my judgment, embody 
the truest or the profoundest religious thought of 
the present day. 

Among the two or three large Protestant bodies 
which hold tenaciously in their creedal expres- 
sions to some form of the idea of substitution, 
there is a considerable deflection of individuals 
who are unsatisfied with this interpretation of the 
life and work of our Saviour. This condition of 
affairs is apparently not for the best interests of 
the church. But the condition is unfavorable only 
in appearance: in reality it is a condition for 
which we should be profoundly grateful; it is 
one of the most encouraging signs of the incoming 
century. " It may be said," writes Harnack, 
" that the idea of the church always remained a 
stage behind the condition reached in practice. 
This may be seen in the whole course of the his- 
tory of dogma up to the present day."* That the 
creedal expressions of the church are not embody- 
ing and expressing the truest thought of the pres- 
ent is a fact which contains great hope for 
to-morrow ; but it is a fact which we need to un- 
derstand, lest haply we be found working against 
the truth. The Reformation broke out at least a 
dozen times before Luther, but was suppressed by 
opposition. 

So long as the conception prevails that Chris- 
[ * Harnack, "History of Dogma," vol. ii, p. 72. 



THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT, 37 

tianity consists in accepting certain doctrines, and 
that these doctrines were uniformly taught by 
the New Testament writers, who were so inspired 
as to give the infallible truth, orthodox Chris- 
tianity will be necessarily opposed to " the con- 
stant metamorphosis to which dogma, like all 
living things, is subject." This position is turned 
when we recognize that the essence of Christianity 
lies in filial piety. 

The expression of this filial piety, in character 
and in human relation, presents the phenomena of 
a historical evolution. " This progress is slow, 
obscure, oft interrupted, hindered by reactions or 
movements of arrest ; none the less striking, how- 
ever, does it appear when, rising above these sec- 
ondary complications, one measures the distance 
between the points of departure and arrival. 
. . • Always borrowing its forms from the en- 
vironment in which it realizes itself, after endur- 
ing them for a time it subsequently frees itself 
from, and triumphs over, the inferior and tempo- 
rary elements which fetter it, and manifests from 
age to age a greater independence, and purer and 
higher spirituality."* The acceptance of this 
point of view frees the mind from that apprehen- 
sive dread which is caused by the present transi- 
tional state of theology, and has entered into and 

*A. Sabatier, "An Outline of the Philosophy of Re- 
ligion," p. 180. 



38 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

possessed so many devout leaders in the church. 
They see in this unsettled condition the future 
ruin of the church : they long for a return of an 
age of faith, when the doctrines of the church had 
greater weight and authority with all the relig- 
iously inclined. 

If one identifies Christianity with the doctrines 
of the church, there are abundant reasons for be- 
ing possessed with such gloomy forebodings. But 
this is exactly what is unnecessary when this de- 
flection from the usual interpretation of Chris- 
tianity is viewed from another and, as I believe, 
truer standpoint. To attribute this movement 
away from the idea of substitution to a decline of 
religion would show our lack of intimate acquaint- 
ance with it, and would indicates our unwilling- 
ness to understand it. Like all other movements 
in religious thought, this one had adequate causes 
which are perfectly intelligible to any person who 
seriously desires to understand them. Among 
other reasons, it will be sufficient to call attention 
to three causes which have powerfully influenced 
modern religious thought, and which, in a large 
measure, have caused many religious persons to 
become unsatisfied with the idea of substitution. 
These causes are, first, the idea of evolution ; sec- 
ondly, the results of recent Biblical criticism ; and, 
thirdly, the idea of a social rather than a doctrinal 
expression of Christianity, and a general move- 



THE CHANGING VIEW -POINT. 



39 



ment toward it. A few sentences must suffice 
with which to indicate, in briefest summary, the 
effects of these causes on the religious thought of 
to-day. 

The influence of the idea of evolution upon 
modern thought in all the various departments 
of investigation, it is assumed by the writer of 
this book, is so generally admitted that its influ- 
ence upon our religious thinking may be taken for 
granted. One who has followed the leaders of 
speculative thought for nearly half a century says, 
concerning the theory of evolution : " No discov- 
ery of the human mind has affected human thinking 
so much as the theory of evolution. Our entire con- 
ception of the universe has changed."* "The 
traditional doctrines of creation have been greatly 
modified, as also the doctrines as to the origin of 
evil, suffering and death. These discoveries, it is 
said, have ruined religion, and are destroying 
Christian faith. Not so. What is being destroyed 
is the debris of an ancient philosophy. But they 
do compel us absolutely, if we would remain in 
touch with the thought of our age, to modify the 
formulas by which the church has hitherto be- 
lieved that it might render an account of the ori- 
gin and evolution of the universe."f Without 

* Northnip, " Class-room Notes." 

fSabatier, "Outline of the Philosophy of Religion," p. 

255. 



4 o THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

entering into an analysis of the specific effects of 
the idea of evolution upon modern religious 
thought, we pass to the second cause, the results 
of recent Biblical criticism. 

For those regarding Christianity as a system of 
doctrines, and taking these as absolute authority, 
it has been natural to use the New Testament 
mainly as a source from which to draw proof- 
texts. In each successive stage in the develop- 
ment of church doctrine, the doctrinal expressions 
of each period, it has been believed, were the uni- 
form and only teachings of the New Testament 
writers. The present better methods of studying 
the Scriptures enable the student to detect an in- 
dividual emphasis in the writings of each author. 
" The modern study of Biblical theology. . . . 
makes plain what has commonly been overlooked, 
namely, the fact that the New Testament does not 
contain a single and uniform explanation of the 
work of Christ, but rather exhibits the various 
thoughts of various apostles and apostolic men, 
whose minds were full of the fact of salvation, but 
who did not possess so uniform a theory of it as 
we have often supposed. Such study will grad- 
ually teach us to distinguish between the perma- 
nent and the essential elements in their doctrine, 
and the temporary forms of thought which it was 
both necessary and useful for them to employ. 
It will help modern students to grasp the divine 



THE CHANGING VIEW -POINT. 41 

reality in its simplicity, and confirm them in the 
conviction that they are at liberty to express that 
reality in forms which are suited to the life of our 
own age."* The influence of this conception of 
the teaching of the New Testament is an entering 
wedge, which will tend to loosen from many minds 
any form of church doctrine which needs a divine 
origin in order to make it reasonable. 

The third cause, the idea of a social rather than 
a doctrinal expression of Christianity, and a gen- 
eral movement toward it, results from the pro- 
found conviction in many minds that the real 
measure of our knowledge of God, or of our like- 
ness to him, is the amount of it reflected in our so- 
cial relations. To be a good Christian and a bad 
member of the social order is impossible, when the 
Christian and the social ideals are seen to be one 
in reality. While doctrinal statements of religious 
belief will always be necessary and valuable, the 
essence of Christianity, filial relationship between 
man and God, finds its fullest and truest expres- 
sion in life, in living relations, in " the just admin- 
istration of national and social affairs, and the 
merciful treatment of one's fellowmen." 

These three are among the most powerful 

causes which are bringing about a transition in 

religious thought. From a historical standpoint, 

the idea of substitution is not a final goal in the 

* Clarke, "An Outline of Christian Theology," p. 290. 



42 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

development of church doctrine. As the Satan 
theory was the orthodox doctrine of the church 
for more than a thousand years, and as it gave 
way to a worthier interpretation, so the idea of 
substitution, which has been the dominant idea 
in orthodox Christianity for several hundred 
years, is giving way to a fuller and worthier in- 
terpretation of the life and work of our Saviour. 
It is an interpretation which presents the rela- 
tionship between man and God as a personal one ; 
which presents guilt as inherently personal and 
untransferable; which makes guilt a pre-requisite 
to punishment, thus making punishment untrans- 
ferable; which presents " the atonement, not as 
the cause of God's love, but God's love as the 
cause of the atonement"; which offers no doc- 
trine which needs a divine origin in order to 
make it seem reasonable; which places at least 
as much stress on the ethical expression of Chris- 
tianity in human relations as it does upon the 
theological expression in creeds and doctrines; 
which regards the fact of the awakened life as 
more valuable than any creedal expression of it; 
which presents salvation as something attained 
only in proportion as the individual comes into 
moral fellowship with Jesus Christ. 

Such, in the main, is the interpretation of the 
Christian experience and of the life and work of 
our Saviour, which is pervading, like a leaven, 



THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 43 

the various Christian churches without regard 
to name. It is clearly not a departure from re- 
ligion, but an attempt to restate the religious ex- 
perience in view of the light that we possess. The 
Reformation fathers did a similar thing in their 
day. In view of the unparalleled advance in the- 
oretical and applied knowledge during the past 
century, in which our point of view on so many 
subjects has been changed, it is inevitable that 
there should come a changing view-point in re- 
ligious thought. The realities of the religious 
experience are unchanged ; faith and devout com- 
munion with God do not depend on knowledge. 
But when knowledge comes, the individual is 
bound to express his religion in view of all that 
he holds to be true in any realm of thought. 
When the beliefs through which man has ex- 
pressed his religious life are found to be inade- 
quate, he has " power to leave them behind, and 
to adopt other forms, as the tree is clothed with 
fresh leaves in place of those which are wither- 
ing." 



CHAPTER II. 

BEGINNING THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 

" I am the Light of the world : he that followeth me 
shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of 
life." — Jesus. 

" Let us love one another, for love is of God ; and every- 
one that loveth is begotten of God." — St. John. 

" By the awakening of new affections and the initiating 
of new character the man is brought into that moral union 
and fellowship with Christ in which salvation consists. 

— William N. Clarke. 

There are few subjects connected with the 
religious life on which it is more desirable to 
think clearly than upon the one before us — that 
of beginning the Christian life. Parents and all 
religious teachers of children especially should 
give careful attention to it. For our idea of con- 
version lies at the foundation of our religious in- 
struction and determines our aims and methods. 
However vague, therefore, may be our ideas on 
many other religious subjects, we should seek for 
a view of conversion which is, as much as pos- 
sible, in accord with what really takes place in 
the human heart, 



46 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

The lack of clearness on this subject is due in 
many cases to our taking certain figurative ex- 
pressions of the New Testament altogether too 
literally. We attempt to press the meaning of a 
physical term into a spiritual experience, forget- 
ting that such terms are only descriptive; they 
are never definitions. But the poverty of lan- 
guage compels us to use physical terms if we are 
to describe at all our spiritual experience. 

The New Testament writers, however, do not 
confine themselves to one figurative expression 
in their endeavor to set forth the beginning of 
the Christian life. And the recognition of this 
fact should save us from unduly pressing any 
one expression. The new birth, John iii. 3, the 
renewal in the spirit of the mind, Eph. iv. 23, 
transformation by the renewing of the mind, 
Rom. xii. 2, a new creation, Gal. vi. 15, putting 
on the new man, Col. iii. 10, and several other 
similar passages, set forth the same act. From 
any one of these expressions we might construct 
a theory of conversion. But when we take all 
of them together and seek for the common ele- 
ment, the spiritual experiences which they at- 
tempt to describe, our idea of conversion will 
probably be nearer what actually takes place in 
the human heart. If we build up our theory on 
any one expression, most probably it will not ac- 
cord with reality. 



BEGINNING THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 47 

In seeking for the meaning wrapped up in the 
word conversion, the experience of Christians is 
a source which we must not ignore. Indeed, ex- 
perience is the primary source for our informa- 
tion, if only we can interpret our experiences cor- 
rectly. The subject is psychological more than 
Scriptural; though the varied expressions of the 
New Testament are invaluable to the investigator. 

In view of all the light that we have on the 
subject, both from experience and from the 
Scriptures, is not conversion, in the Christian 
sense, the entrance of the individual into a per- 
sonal fellowship with Christ? Viewed from the 
side of the operation of the Holy Spirit in the 
human heart, turning the individual to enter this 
fellowship, the act is called regeneration ; viewed 
from man's response to the ever working Spirit's 
activity in bringing men home to God, the act is 
called conversion. Let us repeat, in order to get 
the matter clearly before us. The Holy Spirit 
is always striving to lead men into fellowship 
with Christ. When in any individual case the 
person puts on Christ, takes him as Lord and 
Master, the act is described from the divine side 
as regeneration; from the human side, as con- 
version. The act of entering into fellowship 
with Christ is one act; the divine Spirit works 
upon the human will and seeks by the use of this 
or that instrumentality to bring the individual 



48 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

into a life of fellowship with Christ. This life 
of fellowship is also termed believing in Christ. 
To believe in Christ is to believe that his way of 
living, his attitude toward God, should be our at- 
titude — that is, we should regard God as our 
heavenly Father; that his attitude toward men 
should be our attitude — that is, we should seek 
to serve them rather than seek to compel them to 
serve us. 

The Holy Spirit leads us into this fellowship 
with Christ. Union with him gives us increas- 
ing victory over our sins. In this conscious fel- 
lowship with Christ the individual looks out upon 
life with a purpose which includes all other aims 
and ambitions; his supreme purpose is being true 
to the will of the Christ. Is not this the sum and 
the substance of the Christian life — endeavoring 
to be true to the will of the Christ? No human 
being can do more than this; and he is not a 
Christian who does less. 

Keeping in mind our definition of conversion, 
the entrance of the individual into a personal fel- 
lowship with Christ, the question arises, When 
does conversion occur? The only possible reply 
is this : whenever the individual entered into per- 
sonal fellowship with Christ. In the case of chil- 
dren brought up in a Christian home, where the 
mind of the child is early turned to the loving 
Saviour, there are many instances where the en- 



BEGINNING THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 49 

trance into this personal love to Christ has been 
so gradual that neither mother nor child could tell 
when it began. As the child grows older, he 
learns that confession is one of the duties of the 
Christian, and so he publically states that he has 
loved Jesus ever since he can remember, and now 
he wishes to enter the church. It is usually a sense 
of duty which prompts him to enter the church. 
He does not stop to reason out the matter: he 
feels that it is something he ought to do; and in 
this his feelings are a true guide. 

Now, in the case of such persons, there is 
throughout life a loving service to God. The 
result is evident, and God always cares more for 
results than for the process. 

For the sake of clearness, let us put all such 
conversions by themselves. As little children, 
they entered into the kingdom of God, guided 
by the wise and gentle hand of a mother, whose 
knee was their earliest and most sacred shrine. 
When we come to understand more fully the vast 
range of possibility in prenatal culture, such 
gradual and early conversions will become more 
and more frequent. For more is done to deter- 
mine the disposition and religious tendencies of 
the child before it is born than during the re- 
mainder of its early childhood. On this subject 
it will be sufficient to say that almost irresistible 
tendencies toward the religious life may be the 



50 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

priceless heritage of every child if the mother so 
wills. 

I sometimes marvel at our unwillingness to 
learn needful lessons. I sometimes marvel that 
we spend so much time in learning seemingly 
trivial and unimportant things, and that we are 
so reluctant to learn some of the greatest and 
most vital lessons of existence! 

Leaving this first class of conversions, where 
the individual enters the Christian life so gradu- 
ally, and at such an early age that the result only, 
and not the process, is discernible, we pass to con- 
sider another group. Here, the spiritual awaken- 
ing is definite, the time and place are often held 
in vivid remembrance. Let us seek to understand 
this awakening. Is it an abnormal experience or 
a natural one? 

From many quarters statistics have been gath- 
ered which show that the average age of con- 
version when the time and event are remembered 
is about the sixteenth year. Professor George A. 
Coe, Ph.D., in his recent book, " The Spiritual 
Life," gives the summary of an examination 
which included 1,784 cases, with the result which 
I have stated in the previous sentence. And Pro- 
fessor Starbuck, in his recent work, " The Psy- 
chology of Religion," sums up his observations 
on the age of conversion in the following sen- 
tence: " The greatest number of conversions 



BEGINNING THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 



5i 



comes in the same general period with the rapid 
bodily transformations." 

Before we seek to interpret the meaning of this 
fact, let us notice a custom which exists among 
the American Indians. The Indian, like primi- 
tive man everywhere, is a religious being. When 
the Indian boy arrives at the age of transition 
from childhood to youth, in many tribes he is 
sent forth into the wilderness to fast for a few 
days. "To develop self-control he is provided 
with bow and arrows, but is forbidden to kill any 
creature. Arriving in the mountains, he lifts up 
his voice to the Great Spirit in a song that has 
been sung under such circumstances from before 
the time that the white man first set foot upon 
these shores. The words of the song are, ' God, 
here, poor and needy, I stand.' The melody is 
so soulful, so appealingly prayerful, that one can 
scarcely believe it to be of barbarous origin. 
. . . The boy is waiting, in fact, for a vision 
from on high. . . . Here is the desire to 
come into personal relations with the divinity." 

Human nature is so constituted that during the 
period when the powers of the body are unfold- 
ing, the mind of the youth everywhere, of savage 
as well as of all grades of civilization, reaches out 
after God. During the transition from childhood 
to youth the mind passes through a complete 
transformation. There are new emotions awak- 



S 2 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

ened, new modes of thought, new attitudes of 
will, new and vague ambitions. Lofty ideals pos- 
sess the mind. The boy or girl becomes a re- 
morseless critic of everything. No word char- 
acterizes this period so well as the word unrest. 
The sense of duty and of destiny are unfolding: 
the human spirit is reaching out after the Infinite, 
in yearnings which are often unintelligible. But 
read in the light of the awakening moral senti- 
ments, this unrest of adolescence is caused by the 
unfolding capacity of the human spirit for God. 
The heavenly Father wants the fellowship of his 
children and has planted in every human heart 
desires that unfold and naturally turn to him, 
during the early period of youth. 

From the point of view of the spiritual history 
of the individual, the crisis has come. The boy 
or girl now stands at the cross-roads. If there 
were no choice, morality and character would be 
impossible. While both paths are open, one to- 
ward God, and one leading away from him, it is 
easier now to enter the Way made plain in the 
life of our Saviour, than it will be when the pe- 
riod of youth has passed. It is easier now be- 
cause the mind is reaching out after God and is 
not satisfied until the soul hunger is appeased or 
stifled; it is easier now than later because the 
habits and associations of life are plastic or un- 
formed ; it is easier now because the newly awak- 



BEGINNING THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 53 

ened yearnings after personal fellowship with 
God carry with them a sense of duty which, if 
not heeded, tends to lose its power to arouse and 
move to action. 

We see, therefore, the reason for most conver- 
sions occurring as they do between the ages of 
twelve and twenty. The cause for this is in the 
fact that God has so made human nature that 
during this period, the period of adolescence, the 
human heart turns naturally toward God, just as 
the flower turns toward the sun. 

An interest almost tragic centers about the 
fact that often this soul-hunger for the Infinite 
which appears during adolescence is not rightly 
interpreted by the young man or maiden; and 
that which is designed to lead them into personal 
fellowship with God, they attempt to satisfy in 
various other ways. They dip often and deep 
into the pleasures of society, or stifle the yearn- 
ing after the divine by yielding to gross forms 
of vice. Fortunate the youth to whom religion 
is so presented that this unfolding capacity for 
God leads into a personal fellowship with Christ ! 
Conversion is not an unnatural experience; it is 
the soul's response to the newly awakened appe- 
tite for things divine, for Perfection, for the 
Ideal, for Christ. 

There is still another type of conversion ; for it 
is possible even after taking the wrong path at 



54 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

the cross-roads, to turn about and seek the 
Father's house. But the farther one goes along 
the way which leads from God, the harder it is 
to return. Oh, that we fully understood the dan- 
ger of entering this way at all! Just ahead of 
the traveller everything promises well, only to de- 
ceive him when he has reached the spot. He 
keeps on going, thinking he will turn about if 
next week or next year is not more satisfactory. 
The road from God is paved with good resolu- 
tions! But alas! it becomes increasingly diffi- 
cult to break away from old habits and associa- 
tions. 

But you ask in alarm, Is there no hope for one 
who has been going in the wrong direction dur- 
ing all of the best years of life? I reply: Every 
year a person persists in travelling the path that 
leads away from the Father's house, there is less 
and less probability that he will ever return. But 
the love of God pursues the wanderer, and in 
some hard experience the human spirit is urged 
by its own need to seek divine aid. A sense of 
failure or of sin drives the soul towards the ever- 
lasting Refuge. For the sense of need is funda- 
mental in all religious experience. 

Yes; it is possible to have a new start in life 
even after one has wasted its best years; and if 
religion were only a means of getting into heaven 
and adding nothing to life how, such a late start 



BEGINNING THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 



SS 



would not be wholly unreasonable. But when 
viewed in its right light, as the best method of 
realizing what there is in this life, then the path 
to God offers every inducement to the traveller 
to enter it at an early age. For never was truer 
word spoken than this : the way of transgressors 
is hard. 

It is our privilege to enter into personal fellow- 
ship with Christ, and by loyal obedience to a Per- 
son introduce harmony among our discordant 
aims and desires. The will of Christ becomes the 
law of our life; our aim is to know the truth as 
it is set forth in Christ's life and teaching, and to 
become obedient to the truth when once we have 
known it. 



CHAPTER III. 

AFTER CONVERSION, WHAT? 

" And he that doth not take his cross and follow after 
me is not worthy of me." — Jesus. 

" Christians often err in setting up some single type as 
the one to which all experience must conform. . . . 
Likeness to Christ is the goal of the Spirit's leading, and 
increasing conformity to Christ's character and life is the 
way through which he leads." — William N. Clarke. 

It is a matter of common observation that 
many persons who begin the Christian life stop 
short of any appreciable development of Christian 
character. Such cases are so numerous that they 
demand our most thoughtful consideration. In 
some theories of conversion, it is easy to dismiss 
all such cases by saying the individuals were 
never converted ; for if their conversion had been 
real the relapse would never have occurred. This 
answer is unsatisfying, for it deals with a theory 
rather than with the fact. 

Defining conversion as the entrance of the in- 
dividual into personal fellowship with Christ, is 
it not entirely within the limits of reason to be- 
lieve that this fellowship may be really begun and 



58 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

either forsaken or not permitted to develop? If 
conversion is a transaction whereby the individ- 
ual settles his eternal welfare at a single stroke, 
then let us turn all of the energies of the church 
and of the home toward this one end. Let us seek 
in every possible way to persuade men to begin 
the Christian life, leaving the development of 
Christian character to follow or not, as the case 
may be. But if conversion, the entrance into per- 
sonal fellowship with Christ, is valuable only as 
the first step in the development of Christian 
character, if the goal is conformity to the char- 
acter of Christ, we should be fully as anxious to 
have the individual take the second, third, and 
following steps toward God as we were to have 
him take the first step. We need, therefore, to 
give the most careful thought to the place that 
conversion holds in the development of Christian 
character. What experience should the young 
Christian expect immediately after conversion? 
What kind of conduct should parents expect of 
children just beginning the Christian life? 

A few days ago I was talking with a mother 
concerning her boys. They had been faithful 
in their attendance at the Sunday-school, and on 
decision day had signified a desire to live the 
Christian life. She said : " I think my boys too 
young to join the church; I do not want them to 
join the church till they can live up to it." I 



AFTER CONVERSION, WHATt $ 9 

asked the mother if she would not have them 
learn to write until they could write perfectly; 
if she would not have a child learn the alphabet 
until it could read faultlessly ? . I asked a young 
man also about joining the church. His reply 
was the same, " I do not wish to yet, for I am 
afraid that I cannot live up to it." Here is a 
mother whose little boy has entered the Christian 
life. His conduct is occasionally such that she 
reproves him by saying : " I am afraid you are 
not a Christian, or you would not act in this 
way." 

All of these statements grow out of an unreal 
conception of conversion. The mother should 
think of her boys when they enter the Christian 
life as beginners in the art of true living. She 
should not expect them to live up to the Christian 
ideal all at once, any more than she would expect 
them, at their first attempt, to attain perfection 
in drawing, or music, or in learning to read. How 
different would be all such expressions if conver- 
sion were thought of as the entrance into a per- 
sonal fellowship w T ith Christ, which was to take 
the person just as he is and by the divine alchemy 
of sympathetic association to transform the sin- 
ful into the sinless, to transmute the selfish into 
the unselfish and self-sacrificing, to bring out in 
some degree of distinctness the divine image of 
him in whose likeness the human spirit is orig- 



60 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

inally created. What is the place of conversion 
in the religious experience? Does it settle the 
destiny of the individual? If followed up, of 
course, there is a certain sense in which it does 
decide the life of the individual ; for it is the first 
step along the Way that leads to the soul's home 
with God. The process of unloosing the life 
from sin is begun, but not until we have ceased 
to sin is the work of our salvation complete. For 
salvation is not the blotting out of any past re- 
cord ; it is rather that sublime achievement of de- 
veloping the possibilities of our human natures 
after the perfect Model, Christ Jesus. 

In view of this conception of conversion, what 
experience should the young Christian be led to 
expect soon after entering the life of personal 
fellowship with Christ ? Shall I leave him to his 
own ideas, which are as likely to be as erroneous 
as his ideas on any subject with which he has 
had no experience? Is it not almost inevitable 
that he should get an inadequate conception of 
conversion, or a false estimate of its place and 
value in the development of Christian character? 
He is urged to begin the Christian life; he feels 
a commanding sense of duty in the same direc- 
tion. Perhaps he gathers up unconsciously the 
impression of many popular hymns which repre- 
sent salvation as something accomplished by a 
single act. 



AFTER CONVERSION, WHAT? 61 

With these impressions in his mind he begins 
the Christian life. All of his religious instruc- 
tion, and all of the work of Christian workers, 
culminate in his conversion. Those who were in- 
strumental in bringing him to decide for the 
Christian life rejoice with him in his newly 
found hope. For a few days or weeks, or it may 
be months, he is borne along by the exalted emo- 
tion which accompanies the entrance of the hu- 
man spirit into personal fellowship with Christ. 
Sooner or later this begins to give way to the 
unconquered traits and tendencies of human na- 
ture, which, for a time, had been held in abey- 
ance. 

I wish we could appreciate the tragic struggle 
that at this point engages the soul ! He falls into 
some sin. How deep is his anguish ! " Oh, I 
knew I could not hold out ; I knew I couldn't live 
up to the Christian profession ! " He begins to 
doubt his conversion. He had expected a change. 
Somehow his sinful desires would be eradicated. 
But they are not ! The initial impulse of his spir- 
itual awakening has gone. He stands unarmed : 
about him are foes which have been crouching 
only to gather force for a spring! They leap 
upon him ; they spring for his throat. He fights 
manfully. But he did not expect the attack and 
is unarmed and unprotected. They gain upon 



62 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

him; wounded and torn, he is overpowered and 
vanquished. He bites the dust. 

O how tame and inadequate are words to ex- 
press the conflicts of the soul! What tragedies 
are enacted in the human heart, compared to 
which " Hamlet " and " Macbeth " are as the 
painted sea to a roaring surge! Our friend no 
longer believes in his conversion, because the 
change of nature which he had expected did not 
come. He gives up : there is nothing in religion. 
Has he not tried it? 

What great care should be exercised in pre- 
senting the true meaning of conversion to those 
who have not begun the Christian life! How 
careful we should be to displace any erroneous 
ideas which may have gained possession of the 
young mind! In our zeal to have another begin 
the life of personal fellowship with Christ we 
should not raise expectations which are doomed 
to disappointment. With the young Christian, 
only the beginning has been made : everything is 
yet to be attained. Complete victory over the 
lower tendencies in human nature is the mature 
fruit which ripens through many years of fellow- 
ship with Christ. In conversion we place our sin- 
ful natures by the side of the sinless Christ; 
through the only way known to man, we are un- 
loosed from our sins ; we are unloosed by the de- 
velopment of the Christ-life within us. When 



AFTER CONVERSION, WHAT? 63 

the older Christian reflects upon his own expe- 
rience, this is what he finds to be true, whether 
or not it fits in with his theory of conversion. But 
the one who has just placed his life by the side of 
Christ's may misunderstand the import of his act ; 
and a very common misconception is that his na- 
ture will be so changed that all sinful tendencies 
are at once completely eradicated. He is, there- 
fore, unarmed when the enemy assails him; he 
expected no attack, and falls an easy victim to per- 
plexing doubts, fears, anxieties, and various be- 
setting sins. In some cases the struggle ends at 
once. The slip back into the old attitude of heart 
was heroically resisted for a time ; then every- 
thing gave way. Christian friends look sad as 
they talk together about the case. " Such a 
bright experience; he seemed to promise so 
much." Oh, that we had eyes to see the tragedy 
of such experiences ! On whom does the respon- 
sibility rest ? It rests on us, who should have told 
him what to expect after conversion. How great 
is our blame if our sin has been only one of ne- 
glect. But if we have guided him to expect what 
is untrue to experience, how much greater our 
blameworthiness! Sudden and marked trans- 
formations do sometimes occur. They are usually 
confined to individuals whose lives are mature 
and have been very wicked. Such conversions 
are a class by themselves, and we ought not to 



64 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

expect early conversions, and those that take 
place during the period of adolescence, to con- 
form to that type. 

What should the young Christian expect after 
conversion? How should he look upon the step 
he has taken? His ideas will accord with expe- 
rience if he views conversion as the beginning 
of a personal fellowship with Christ, a fellowship 
which has as its ultimate goal the attainment of 
Christ-likeness in character. He should not ex- 
pect the victory all at once; he should expect 
struggle, conflict with sinful tendencies. Nor 
should a defeat cause him to think of turning 
back. He is sculpturing out of rough marble 
block or tougher granite rock, under the aid and 
guidance of the greatest of all Masters, a figure 
which is to bear the words Character and Des- 
tiny. How natural that his chisel should slip 
here or there ! He is a beginner. Let us not cen- 
sure him for his mistakes : we ourselves have 
made similar ones. Let us rejoice with him be- 
cause he has entered the school of Christ and un- 
der his guidance and with his aid is learning the 
most difficult of all fine arts, the art of true living. 

By faith he enters into a personal fellowship 
with Christ. What does this fellowship mean? 
In proportion as we make Christ real and walk 
with him day by day will we be gradually trans- 
formed into his image. We follow him, and the 



AFTER CONVERSION, WHAT I 65 

light of his life guides our wandering feet to the 
heavenly Father's house. But our feet are easily- 
led astray. Sometimes on this side and then on 
that. Our own experiences teach us that the ele- 
ment of struggle has an inevitable place in the 
Christian life: no struggle, no strength; which 
is the same thing as no cross, no crown. And 
this struggle begins often in an intense form soon 
after conversion. The reason for this is plain. 
As the individual comes into personal relations 
with Christ there is usually an initial impulse 
of exalted feeling which keeps his besetting sins 
subdued. This soon gives way to a more normal 
feeling, and then the tide is almost certain to run 
in the opposite direction, in accordance with the 
law of action and reaction. The young Christian 
should be taught to expect this experience; he 
should think of himself as a warrior whose 
greatest battles will be those fought in the depths 
of his own heart. In conversion he enters the 
ranks of the great Captain to conquer the enemies 
of his own soul. But the victory is not to the 
strong : it is to those who open their lives to that 
Strength which comes from above. And one of 
the great lessons of life is to learn to accept help 
from above. 

There is a Helper always near, the indwelling 
Spirit, whose natural work it is to aid and sus- 
tain the human heart in times of stress and storm, 



66 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

But the divine Spirit can sustain us only as we 
let him, and as we enter into intelligent co-opera- 
tion. So far as this truth can be set forth by- 
words, it should be made very plain to the young 
Christian. He should be told that struggle is in- 
evitable; that salvation is not a transaction, the 
blotting out of a past record, but the unloosing of 
our human spirits from the power of sin; that so 
long as we are sinful the element of struggle will 
persist, and the process of being saved will con- 
tinue. 



CHAPTER IV. 

TESTIMONY TO THE TRUTH ; OR, THE MISSION OF 
CHRIST. 

"To this end came I into the world, that I should testify- 
to the truth." — Jesus. 

"Jesus Christ is God's way to us, and our way to God." 
— William N. Clarke. 

Few ideas are more important to a man than 
his conception of his own mission to the world. 
If this is clearly defined, and vigorously held, the 
energy of the life will be expended toward a defi- 
nite end ; if there is no clear or definite idea of his 
mission or purpose, the life will probably be car- 
ried along on the stream, following the line of the 
least resistance, or become a series of efforts, first 
in one direction and then in another. Continuity 
of effort, persistence in a certain line of activity, is 
scarcely possible without a single definite con- 
trolling purpose. 

In the text we get a glimpse of the clearness of 
Christ's conception of his mission to the world. 
" To this end have I been born, and for this 
cause have I come into the world, that I should 
testify to the truth." He is now before Pilate, and 



68 THE CHANGING VIEW -POINT. 

nearing the close of his earthly life. The 
unity of his life, we see as we study it, 
is the following out to the minutest detail 
the principle which he says has been and 
is his controlling purpose — to testify to the 
truth. In the events which are to follow, 
Jesus is true to the conception of his mission, even 
though his persistence in bearing witness to the 
truth leads him to the ignominious death upon the 
cross. Fidelity to his mission he carried to the 
extent of yielding up his own life rather than 
cease to bear witness to the truth. 

My theme is testimony to the truth; the need 
of this testimony, the obligation of those who 
know the truth, to bear witness to it, and the re- 
sults which come from lives which are testimonials 
to the truth. The wants of the world are not 
always its needs, and not infrequently we are un- 
conscious of our deepest needs. So complex is 
life, so easily dimmed is our vision, so apt is our 
judgment to be influenced by our temporary, 
rather than by our permanent, interest, that our 
sense of relative value becomes at times hopelessly 
confused. 

In the time of Jesus, he saw illustration of this 
all about him. The same thing was true in the 
time of the prophets. They were raised up to 
bear witness to a certain phase of truth: Jesus 
game to testify to the truth, The idea of religion 



TESTIMONY TO THE TRUTH. 69 

held by the Scribes and Pharisees was that it con- 
sisted in the punctilious observance of certain rules 
of conduct. They had gradually built up a very 
complicated system, including rules and observ- 
ances for many of the most trivial happenings of 
daily life. Of course there were those whose in- 
ner life developed, in spite of these external bur- 
dens, into true, tender, sympathetic, godly men 
and women. But the dominant tone in religion 
was not that of sincerity and true piety. 

The need was imperative for witness to the 
truth. Then, there was need for testimony con- 
cerning God. Many devout souls were yearning 
for a clearer conception of God. Many were sat- 
isfied with any conception of God which did not 
interfere with their selfish ambitions. God was, 
to many, a Being who could be satisfied with a few 
sacrifices; and the personal conduct of the indi- 
vidual was thought to be of little or no concern to 
God. The Jews held, also, a restricted conception 
of God's relations to the other nations. He was 
the God of the Jew^s in the sense that he was re- 
stricted to them. 

Here was a need for a witness to truth. Per- 
haps equally great was the need for testimony to 
the truth concerning the relation of man to God, 
and of man to his fellowman. The views held 
were partial, distorted, inadequate. As in all ages, 
before and since, men were seeking for place and 



70 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

position, simply as an end in itself. Life con- 
sisted in position, attainment, possession. Hope 
for the future was dim; solace for the weary, 
comfort for the broken-hearted, relief for those 
whose burden could scarcely be borne, the world 
was, and always is unconsciously seeking. O 
the need of the human heart in its hours of iso- 
lation and grief! Concerning this needy world, 
stumbling after truth, in the dark or in the dim 
twilight, Jesus says, "I came into this world that 
I should testify to the truth." 

The obligation to bear witness to the truth 
was recognized and met. Having a conception 
of God which was needful for the people to have, 
it became morally impossible for him not to give 
it to the world. Gathering a few men about him, 
he began to teach them concerning God. Em- 
bodying his teaching in his own life and charac- 
ter, when one of his followers asked to be shown 
the Father, Jesus replied : " He who has seen 
me has seen the Father." By his life Jesus made 
known the Father. He bore witness to the truth 
by living it. And what other way has God of 
making himself known to men than through the 
lives of those who have had a revelation of God in 
their own souls? The obligation to bear witness 
to the truth is a fundamental principle in spiritual 
experience. God's purpose to bring the world to 
himself, his desire to make himself known 



TESTIMONY TO THE TRUTH. 7 i 

through his followers, makes it obligatory for 
us to testify to the truth or be recreant to a com- 
manding impulse of duty. 

In proportion as we have the truth, the re- 
sponsibility rests upon us to testify to it. In every 
age some men through the providence of God are 
called to proclaim the message of God to the peo- 
ple. The soul that has experienced the message 
is the only true interpreter of it. Jesus, living in 
such close fellowship with the Father, embodying 
in his own life to such a degree as no one else ever 
has, the truths that he taught, became the authori- 
tative religious teacher of humanity. The obliga- 
tion rests upon each one of his followers so to 
embody the truth of the Gospel message that the 
messenger shall be an epistle known and read of 
all men. 

The church exists in order to bear wit- 
ness to the truth. But it can testify only to that 
which it has embodied or experienced. Has it ex- 
perienced forgiveness of sins ? The world is wait- 
ing on every hand for living witnesses to the fact 
of God's forgiveness of sin. For it expects that 
those who have been forgiven of God will be for- 
giving to their fellowmen. And is not the world 
right ? 

The love of God enters into the heart of the be- 
liever, and becomes a priceless possession. But 
the worldly man knows nothing of a personal ex- 



72 THE CHANGING VIEW -POINT, 

perience of the love of God. If he is ever to know 
it, if my experience is to become his, I must bear 
witness to the love of God by actions toward my 
fellowmen which show that love in ways which 
they can understand. 

We have looked at the need of testimony to the 
truth, which exists because so many persons are 
possessed with ideas that are not as worthy as 
those held by Christ and his followers; we have 
seen that the possession of truth carries with it 
the obligation to testify to it or it becomes to us 
as though we did not have it; we have now to 
consider the results of testifying to the truth. This 
phase of our subject has a twofold aspect, the re- 
sults accruing to the one who testifies, and the 
results of the testimony in the lives of others. 

In the beginning of his ministry Jesus adopted 
the plan which was consistently carried out in all 
his later activity. He conceived of his mission to 
the world as an opportunity to testify to the truth. 
The popular expectation was for another kind of 
Messiah. Had he yielded to the popular demand, 
and set up a temporary kingdom, all Judaism 
would have flocked to his standards. But his in- 
sight into the needs of the people detected a far 
prof ounder need than that of temporal supremacy; 
he saw man bound by external customs ; saw de- 
vout men contending for the letter of the observ- 
ance, and neglecting the spirit; saw ceremonies 



TESTIMONY OF THE TRUTH. 73 

substituted for inner righteousness; saw men 
divided against each other, and living for their 
own selfish interests. He saw, also, the yearning 
in many hearts, which was not satisfied by any of 
these externals. 

Christ's witness to the truth drew some to 
him; it aroused the bitter opposition of those 
whose religious ideas his principles tended to un- 
dermine. So deep-seated was the religious preju- 
dice of the dominant religious factions of the 
Jews that Jesus appeared to them as one worthy 
of death. He claimed to be the King of the Jews, 
the Son of God. This was the height of blas- 
phemy to them. In their indignation, their fury 
knew no bounds. Jesus had committed an offense 
worthy of death. This death could have been ob- 
viated had Jesus adopted a policy of compromise. 
This was not entertained a moment. He came 
to bear witness to the truth; he had taught 
the truth ; he lived the truth, and in so doing, 
his life and teaching were a rebuke to his 
co-religionists. Only one of two things could 
be done; either they must accept his posi- 
tion, or condemn it and him. His teaching was 
not in accord with their self-interests. It was 
much easier to reject and condemn. The inherent 
self-interest of the religious leaders arrayed itself 
solidly against the man whose teaching would un- 
dermine their exalted positions. Jesus, being what 



74 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

he was, a faithful witness to the realities of life, 
a witness both in his teaching and in his character ; 
and men being what they were, the result could 
have but one outcome. Though the death on the 
cross loomed up before Jesus, yet he did not 
swerve from the path which he had adopted — his 
life was a testimony to the truth. This testimony 
so aroused the bigotry of the religious leaders that 
Jesus paid for his fidelity by yielding up his life. 
Jesus died because he was what he was, and be- 
cause man was what he was. 

Christ's testimony to the truth is an example 
to his followers. In so far as we approach to the 
matchless perfection of our Saviour, we are to 
yield our lives a witness to the truth. Instances 
are not wanting; indeed the pages of history are 
eloquent with the heroic sacrifices of those who 
have endured all sorts of punishment and torture, 
and have yielded life itself, rather than be false to 
the truth. There is no redemption of the race ex- 
cept through suffering. Every man who has a 
message from God in his heart, and who fearlessly 
delivers this message, is bound to stir up the pas- 
sions of the self-interested and to bring their fury 
upon his head. 

But the world is not wholly given over to the 
interests of selfishness. In every heart there are 
the two elements, selfishness and love. It is a 
vital matter as to which has control. Testimony to 



TESTIMONY TO THE TRUTH. 75 

the truth, while it arouses the hatred of some, calls 
forth the nobler instincts and aspirations of others. 
Jesus bears witness to the truth, and yields up his 
life as a measure of his fidelity to truth; a few 
men are possessed by the same passion to live and 
bear testimony to what they believe is true. Their 
apprehension of the realities of life may not be so 
clear as was that of Jesus, yet their work is the 
same in kind — they bear witness to the truth, and 
to him who was the Truth. 

During each successive generation this has been 
the same ; men are blinded by the passion of de- 
sire; their judgment is obscured by the appeal of 
the temporary in opposition to the permanent, call- 
ing them to sacrifice permanent possessions which 
are gradual attainments for the fleeting pleasures 
of the moment. There is so much that glitters, 
and we have so little time to investigate its real 
value, that no wonder so many of us spend our 
lives for that which perishes with the using. Life 
promises so much, and satisfies so little. The hu- 
man heart yearns for that which will satisfy, and 
longs for the guidance of one who knows the way 
into a higher and more satisfying experience. 
Here is our mission. God has graciously led us 
into an experience of his love and into the enjoy- 
ment of his fellowship. Dimly realized, to be 
sure, yet realized truly; the love of God in our 
hearts impels us to make it known. To this end 



76 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

have we come into the experience of his love, that 
we might bear witness to its transforming power. 
Our witness will be most effective if it is nat- 
ural and unstudied; the love of God is best 
shown in acts coming from a loving heart. 

Wherever there is ignorance, vice, hatred, in- 
justice, bitterness or strife, there in the very con- 
dition is the call of God to us to enter and bear 
witness to the mercy, love and forgiveness of 
God. Jesus' call to his church is to follow him;- 
to incorporate the truth in living character; to 
teach the truth; to be faithful to the truth even 
unto death ; for it is the truth which makes men 
free. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE IMMANENT DIVINE LIFE; OR, THE DIVINITY 
OF CHRIST. 

"After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father, 
which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name/' — Jesus. 

"It is by our living Saviour, Jesus Christ, that we are 
brought home to God, not through some doctrine of 
him." — William N. Clarke. 

By the use of the words " Our Father," Christ 
expresses a certain relationship between himself 
and God, and between himself and man. He 
looks at man and says " Our "; he looks at God 
and says " Father." It is a question worthy of 
our most serious consideration when we ask our- 
selves, If I am to think seriously about the sub- 
ject, what may I think about Jesus Christ? Is 
he man like the prophets, a great religious teacher 
sent from God; or, is he the Son of God, in a 
unique sense in which other men are not? This 
is a practical question, and whichever way an in- 
dividual believes, he should know why he believes 
as he does. 

There are those who have found it necessary, 
in loyalty to their own convictions, to reject the 



78 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

doctrine of the divinity of Christ. Why have 
they done so? For this reason: They believe 
in one personal God; how can one person be 
three distinct persons? they ask. The question 
answers itself: it is impossible; three cannot be 
one, and one cannot be three at the same time. 
Approaching the subject from the metaphysical 
side, I cannot see what other answer could be 
reached, for there is nothing in God contrary to 
reason, though there may be much above reason. 
If we are to retain our belief in the doctrine of 
the Trinity and in the divinity of Christ, must we 
then cease to think about them? This is indeed 
the method employed, I fear, by not a small num- 
ber of Christians. Thinking about the subject, 
how can one be three, or three one, leads to men- 
tal confusion; and relief is found either by dis- 
missing the subject, by refusing to think, or by 
saying, it is impossible, it cannot be. 

But is it necessary to approach the subject 
from the metaphysical side? It certainly is not. 
There is another, and, as I believe, truer ap- 
proach to the subject; and this is to ask, What 
was there in the life of Jesus Christ which led 
his disciples to believe in his divinity? If they 
believed in his divinity without adequate reasons, 
then they may be wrong, and we need not fol- 
low them ; if, however, the reasons are sufficient 
and adequate, then we, in loyalty to our own 



THE IMMANENT DIVINE LIFE, 79 

convictions, may bow in adoration before the 
Christ, the Son of God. Refusing, therefore, to 
confuse our minds with the metaphysical enigma, 
How can one person, in any real sense, be three 
persons? — consider the reasons which compelled 
the early church to believe in the divinity of 
Christ. And if these should seem to be sufficient 
reasons for our believing that Jesus is divine, if 
this is. the most natural and the most reasonable 
way to account for the character of Jesus, then 
the questions that are beyond or above our finite 
comprehension need not trouble us. 

Let us look first at his personal claims. "No 
one cometh unto the Father except through me." 
"Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy 
laden, and I will give you rest. " " I am the light 
of the world"; "I am the bread of life"; "I 
and the water of life." Hear him say to Martha : 
" I am the resurrection and the life; he that be- 
lieveth on me, though he die, yet shall he live; 
and whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall 
never die." What is the meaning of these words? 
Were they spoken simply to assuage the grief of 
a dear friend who had lost her brother, words 
of comfort carelessly spoken, without knowing 
what they really meant? Surely not. But con- 
sider the claim he makes in this statement: He 
says : " I am the resurrection and the life." 
Martha says : " I know that my brother shall 



So THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

rise again in the resurrection at the last day." 
Jesus replies to her : " The resurrection is not 
something to be awaited at the last day; I am 
the resurrection : to believe in me is to pass from 
death into life. He that believes in me, though 
he depart from this life, still lives, he shall never 
die." This claim, made so quietly and calmly, 
a claim never before made by man, afforded in- 
stant relief to the young woman, who knew him 
as a personal friend. She catches his meaning, 
and sees that the death of the body is but an open 
gate into a larger life. After confessing her be- 
lief in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, Mar- 
tha seeks to share her new-born comfort with 
her weeping sister. 

This same claim of Jesus not only sat- 
isfied the heart of her who knew him 
as one who had enjoyed the hospitality of 
her home, it has brought comfort to mil- 
lions of devoted followers who, though they 
have never seen the Master face to face, yet love 
him with a devotion measured only by life itself. 
Christ's claim to give eternal life to those who be- 
lieved on him is a claim that has been verified in 
the experiences of a multitude, whose lives have 
been transformed from that which was low and 
selfish to that which approaches the highest con- 
ceivable type of human character. Among the 
other claims of Jesus which, if he were only man. 



THE IMMANENT DIVINE LIFE. 81 

would be absolutely absurd and would render 
him unworthy of confidence, are his claims of 
power to forgive sins, that he was one with the 
Father, that his own teaching superseded the pre- 
cepts in the Old Testament And while not claim- 
ing openly to be the Son of God, Jesus, in at 
least two cases, speaks of himself as such. What 
shall we say of such claims? There are only 
two positions to take, and the one excludes the 
other. Either Jesus was what he claimed to be, 
or he was not. If he were not what he claimed to 
be, history presents no greater impostor, no 
greater fraud. Shall we grant his claims? We 
cannot stop, then, when we have called Jesus a 
great teacher of religion; he is the Christ, the 
Son of God, the Saviour of the world. Approach- 
ing the subject from this point of view, the claims 
of Christ compel us either to reject him as an im- 
postor, the greatest the world has ever known, or 
to accept him as the Christ, the Son of God. 

One of the dominant notes in the teaching of 
Christ was that men needed to repent, to turn 
away from their sins. " Repent ye : for the King- 
dom of heaven is at hand." Paul takes up the 
same cry, and exhorts men everywhere to turn 
from their sins and become reconciled unto God. 
As one of his most effective measures of arous- 
ing others to turn to God, Paul relates his own 
experience. He tells how zealous he was as a 



82 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

persecutor of the Christians, and how he came to 
believe in Jesus Christ, how he was not ashamed 
now to give up all his former plans and purposes, 
to tell to other men how Christ saves sinners, of 
whom he was one of the greatest. But all this 
is markedly absent from the teaching of Jesus. 
Fierce in his denunciation of sin; tender and 
strong in his calls to repentance, Jesus never inti- 
mates that he himself needed forgiveness or re- 
pentance. There have been many noble characters 
in this world; glorious heroes, patriots, philan- 
thropists, reformers, martyrs; men and women 
before whose names Christendom bows, and bows 
justly. " It is around such transcendent charac- 
ters as these, towering like mountains above the 
common plains of humanity, that the reverence 
of the ages loves to wrap the robe of a spotless 
purity ; even as the virgin snow enwraps the dis- 
tant Alpine ranges. But as the actual attempt to 
climb these snowy heights discloses here and 
there huge gorges and beetling precipices, so, 
alas! does a nearer inspection of these transcen- 
dent characters in human history disclose many a 
defect and even deformity, which mars and some- 
times even wholly hides the general beauty. Lin- 
coln, Washington, Cromwell, Luther, Alford,Paul, 
Cicero, Confucius, Socrates, David, Moses, Abra- 
ham, were far from faultless, even in the eyes of 
men. Only one character in all history has sue- 



THE IMMANENT DIVINE LIFE. 83 

cessfully endured all tests of keenest scrutiny.' ' 
And that character after nearly two thousand 
years of scrutiny and criticism embodies the 
world's highest ideals ; the most gifted and puri- 
fied imagination of man or woman has been un- 
able to present, in romance or song, a character 
comparable to that of the Christ. There are those 
who have claimed that the Christ of the Gospels 
was a mythical character, the product of fancy; 
a beautiful character, but wholly imaginary. If 
this was so, then Mark and Matthew, Luke and 
John succeeded each in imagining a character the 
highest the world has ever imagined or seen; a 
character w T hich, in reality or in fancy, has never 
since been equaled. Thus, you see, the most 
simple and natural thing is to believe that Jesus 
Christ actually lived among men, and that he was 
all that they have depicted him. To accept Jesus 
as a real historical person, makes it necessary, for 
me, at least, to believe that he is the Christ, the 
Son of God, the Saviour of the world. 

The miracles and the resurrection of Christ 
are also evidences of his divinity. But apart from 
his character, these would convince no man that 
Christ was the Son of God. Christ is accepted 
as the Son of God not for what he did, but for 
what he was and is. What he did would have 
little value if there were not behind it all the in- 
comparable character of purity and holiness. It 



84 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

is the purity and holiness of Jesus, which can be 
accounted for in no other way but by granting his 
own claim, that he and the Father are one; that 
he is the Christ, the Son of God. 

Is not this a more satisfactory, and at the same 
time more reasonable approach to the subject 
of the divinity of Christ? To accept his divinity 
is far more reasonable than to reject it; for he 
who rejects it must in some other way account 
for the sinless character of Jesus. If it can be 
shown that any other individual has lived a sin- 
less life, has had no need for forgiveness, and 
has passed through such temptations as Jesus did 
without sinning in some way, then I am ready to 
believe that Jesus was a man like such a man, 
but until then Jesus is the Christ, the Son of 
God; until you bring me a historical character, 
"Faultless without dullness; patriotic, without 
partizanship ; courteous, without hollowness ; dig- 
nified, without stiffness ; delicate, without dainti- 
ness ; calm, without stolidity ; enthusiastic, with- 
out optimism; guileless, without childishness; 
frank, without effusiveness; chivalrous, without 
rashness; aggressive, without pugnacity; con- 
ciliatory, without sycophancy; prudent, without 
time-serving; modest, without self-depreciation; 
gracious, without condescension; just, without 
severity; lenient, without laxity; flexible, with- 
out vacillation; conservative, without obstruc- 



THE IMMANENT DIVINE LIFE. 85 

tiveness ; progressive, without precipitancy ; im- 
perative, without imperiousness; decisive, without 
bluntness; heroic, without coarseness; self- 
conscious, without self-conceit; hopeful, without 
dreaminess; sad, without gloom; sympathetic, 
without connivance; generous, without prodigal- 
ity; frugal, without churlishness; appreciative, 
without flattery; stern, without censoriousness ; 
indignant, without bitterness ; forgiving, without 
feebleness ; sociable, without familiarity ; reserve, 
without moroseness; self-denying, without as- 
ceticism; unworldly, without unwisdom; con- 
scientious, without fanaticism; trustful, without 
improvidence; perfect, without unnaturalness,"* 
until such a person is found, Christ stands alone, 
the embodiment of all virtues, the personification 
of all graces, the word made flesh, the Christ, the 
Son of God, the Saviour of the world. 

Much confusion has arisen on the subject of 
the Trinity, and, consequently, concerning the 
divinity of Jesus Christ, by approaching the dis- 
cussion by way of a definition. In the presence 
of an infinite mystery, or of any vital process, 
definition is manifestly inadequate; for a vital 
process cannot be defined, it can only be described ; 
and attempts to define what is beyond our knowl- 
edge, or beyond any analogy in human experience, 
always lead to diversity of opinions and beliefs. 
* George Dana Boardman: " The Problem of Jesus." 



86 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

Not a few godly and intelligent people, approach- 
ing the subject of the Trinity by way of a defini- 
tion, have felt it necessary to withdraw from the 
orthodox churches, and have given up belief in 
the divinity of Jesus Christ. Without saying a 
word concerning any single individual, it seems 
to me to be plainly evident that, as a class, those 
who believe in God only as manifested in nature 
and history and as revealed only to their own 
consciousness and conscience, whose only con- 
ception of God is that of the Absolute Eternal 
Being, have usually a religious faith without 
warmth or vitality, and which, in contrast to the 
vitalizing and life-giving rays of the sun, is pale 
and cold like a moon-beam. Nor is it difficult to 
understand why this is so. In such a faith the 
element of personal relations and personal affec- 
tion has been suppressed. Conduct is regulated 
according to abstract principles. This is admir- 
able so far as it goes; but it is Old Testament 
religion, shorn even of the stimulus of an im- 
posing ritual and an elaborate system of sacrifices. 
Experience makes evident that for the satisfac- 
tion of the deepest cravings of the human heart 
we need to know God in terms of humanity ; the 
human heart needs a Saviour who has. met the 
temptations of life, a sharer of life's sorrow and 
pain ; needs a revelation of God's will in the form 
of a person who shall be, in himself, our standard 



THE IMMANENT DIVINE LIFE. 87 

of right, so that doing God's will is not con- 
formity to an abstract principle of right, but lov- 
ing devotion to a person. I believe in the divinity 
of Christ because in him the will of the Father 
was perfectly realized, perfectly manifested to the 
world. For it is not the embodiment of deity, 
but the expression of the character of God, which 
is the glory of Jesus Christ, who manifests the 
will of the Father as an only begotten Son. 

What, then, shall we think about the Trinity? 
How shall we state our belief so that it shall not 
be contrary to reason and at the same time ac- 
count for the facts? For there is a way of 
stating the doctrine of the Trinity which is con- 
trary to reason and which has driven many godly 
and intelligent people to reject the doctrine alto- 
gether. There are multitudes of men and women 
who so state their belief that they believe in three 
gods. Is it possible to so state our belief in the 
Trinity that confusion in thought may be avoided ? 
I think it is. 

St. Paul says : " There is one God and Father 
of all, who is over all, and through all and in all." 
According to the suggestion of this text, the Trin- 
ity is a trinity of life. God is not divided into 
three persons, into three Gods; but rather he 
has made himself known in three ways : God the 
Father is the transcendent, divine life; God the 
son is the divine life, immanent in the universe, 



88 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

individualized and expressed in human form in 
Jesus Christ; God the Holy Spirit is the divine 
life in the soul of man, the Comforter, the Helper, 
the Guide. Thus we may state our belief in one 
God, who makes himself known to us in three 
ways : As Father, as Son, as Holy Spirit. 

The great question, however, for each of us 
is not whether we understand all about these 
things, but rather how much of the Christ-spirit 
do I have in my heart ? There is nothing that the 
human heart so craves as to be at peace with God. 
And multitudes, whom no man can number, have 
found this peace by believing in Jesus Christ. 
" He that hath the Son hath the life; he that hath 
not the Son hath not the life." 

My friends, arguments and reasons are good in 
their places; but experience is above them all. 
What is the secret of all that is dearest, and holy, 
and pure and noble in the best people whom you 
know ? Is it not that in some way they have been 
with Jesus, and have caught something of his 
spirit? The best evidence that Jesus is more than 
man, is that he saves men and women who put 
their trust in him. If belief in Jesus made men 
drunkards, or avaricious, or envious, or self-satis- 
fied, or selfish, no arguments could convince us of 
his divinity; but since belief in Jesus saves men 
from these and other sins, since belief in him leads 
men out of the darkness of sin into the light of 



THE IMMANENT DIVINE LIFE. 89 

the purity and holiness of God, since all who have 
truly surrendered their lives to him pass from 
death into life, is not the experience of being saved 
from sin the final evidence, the ultimate proof 
that Jesus is the Christ, the Saviour of the world, 
the Son of God? 



CHAPTER VI. 

VICARIOUS SUFFERING. 

" How foolish you are, and how slow in accepting all 
that the Prophets have said ! Was not the Christ bound to 
undergo all this before entering upon his glory?" — Jesus. 

" Him who knew no sin he made to be sin, on our be- 
half."— Paul. 

" Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an ex- 
ample." — Peter. 

" Love suffers in saving ; this, and not some penal 
theory, is the key to the meaning of his sufferings." — 
William N. Clarke. 

The story of the cross has been, and is, and 
always will be, one of the principal themes of 
Christianity. The cross of Jesus has inspired 
poet, and painter and martyr, as perhaps no other 
subject can. The spiritual reality which the cross 
pictures to the imagination made the symbol itself 
an object of veneration very early in the history 
of the church. Converts from paganism, who 
were used to sacred relics, wished for something 
in tangible form to aid them in their devotions; 
and the unguided instinct fastened upon the cross. 
So a wooden or a metallic cross was looked at 
by the worshipper as he endeavored to exclude the 



$2 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

multitude of distracting thoughts which dis- 
turbed his worship. Soon the cross became a 
badge, was worn by the individual to indicate that 
he belonged to the church. A cross was put on 
the pinnacle of the church edifice to mark it as 
the place where Christians met to worship God. 
The cross adorned the altar, was stamped upon 
the Bible and other books connected with Chris- 
tian worship, was sometimes made of costly gems, 
and given a conspicuous place in the house of 
worship. 

Christianity, even from the time of Paul, was 
called after the symbol of the cross. The words 
cross, crucify, and crucifix passed into the com- 
mon language of the church. Few hymns express 
better the common sentiment of Christians in all 
ages than : 

" In the cross of Christ I glory, 

Towering o'er the wrecks of time; 
All the light of sacred story- 
Gathers round its head sublime." 

And: 

" When I survey the wondrous cross, 
On which the Prince of Glory died, 
My richest gain I count but loss, 
And pour contempt on all my pride." 

When Christianity became the state religion of 
the Roman Empire the cross became an object of 
superstitious veneration, and the spiritual reality 



VICARIOUS SUFFERING. 



93 



which it symbolized was, in a great measure, 
lost. What befell the cross is apt to happen to 
any symbol — as the thing for which it stands 
passes out of mind the symbol is held sacred, and 
is thought to possess properties which give it 
power over the imagination. 

Let us look at the spiritual reality behind the 
symbolism of the cross. What does the " cross " 
mean? The cross of Jesus means that it is in- 
herent, in the very nature of goodness, to suffer 
for the good of others. Would it be a statement 
in accord with what is true to say that goodness 
may be measured by one's ability and willingness 
to suffer for the good of others? The cross of 
Jesus reveals the heart of God. What Jesus did 
during his short ministry, the compassion, sym- 
pathy and love that he showed to those who 
needed him, his sorrow over the sinfulness of 
man, his constant endeavor to win man to a higher 
and truer way of living, and all of the varied ac- 
tivity of Jesus afford us a glimpse, as it were, be- 
hind the scene. The life of Jesus — for his whole 
ministry was one of cross-bearing — pulls the cur- 
tain aside for a brief moment, and we behold the 
nature of God making itself known. And what is 
God like ? He is like Jesus, the Christ. " He who 
has seen me has seen the Father." But the world 
would never have believed that statement if the 
life of Tesus had been mean or low. It is because 



94 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

Jesus lived so that he expressed what the human 
heart recognized as godlike that he has been, and 
always will be, the revealer of God to humanity. 
The cross of Jesus makes plain to humanity a 
lesson which every generation must learn from 
Jesus anew, that goodness suffers for the sake 
of others. During all the ages before the coming 
of Jesus into the world, God was bearing the bur- 
dens of humanity, entering into its sorrows, and 
leading individuals and peoples out of the dark- 
ness of animalism and savagedom, over the long 
stretches that lay between the infancy of the 
race and the " fulness of time," when it would be 
possible, owing to man's larger spiritual capacity, 
to make known to the race what he had been doing 
for it during the many centuries of its infancy. 
The great need of humanity was to know its 
Father. And the need is the same in every gen- 
eration — the human child needs to know its heav- 
enly Father. Jesus says : " I and the Father are 
one." To each individual this statement may come 
as a revelation full of transforming power. What 
is God, my heavenly Father, like? If I cannot 
read his character, in what he has made about 
me, I lift up my heart to Jesus, and hear him say : 
" I and the Father are one." What a glorious 
thought! God is like Jesus. Jesus had compas- 
sion for people ; their needs appealed to him, and 
he gave himself to help them, and to teach them 



VICARIOUS SUFFERING. 95 

about God, their Father; he lived and died to 
make known to man how much God loved his 
erring, sinful children. In the life of Jesus we 
see the true nature of God; in the life of Jesus 
we see that it is godlike to bear the burdens of 
others and to suffer for the sins of those about 
you. 

Vicarious suffering, suffering for the good of 
others, is the invariable price for their redemption. 
The life and death of Jesus, revealing the heart of 
God, shows that it is the nature of holy love to 
suffer when the object of that love does wrong. As 
man becomes godlike it is a law of his being that 
he shall suffer for the sins of others, so long as 
people about him are sinful. Peter expresses this 
thought when he says: " Christ also suffered for 
you, leaving you an example, that you should fol- 
low his steps. 

My friends, what a meaning this gives to hu- 
man life ! It is God's purpose to redeem human- 
ity from the power of sin ; but this can be accom- 
plished only through suffering. As followers of 
Jesus Christ we are invited to enter into this great 
work and perpetuate the work which he began. 
As soon, in the history of the world, as it was 
fitting to do so, God sent his Son, Jesus, who 
lived the life of God among men; the call goes 
forth for you and me to live the life of God among 
men, to live as nearly like Jesus as we are able, 



96 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

to have the same attitude toward God, one in 
which it is our meat and drink to do the will of 
our heavenly Father; and to have the same attitude 
toward men as he had, one in which, while we 
shall condemn all forms of hypocrisy and self- 
righteousness, we shall sympathize and help those 
Who need our help and sympathy. Jesus took 
up his cross daily, and he said that his followers 
must do the same. My friends, there is nothing 
optional in bearing the cross. It is not some- 
thing that we can do or not, just as one might 
wish. Cross bearing, suffering for the good of 
others, is an essential part of god-likeness, Jesus 
suffered for the sins of the world, leaving us an 
example that we should follow his steps. 

Herein lies the essential missionary character of 
the church. Jesus says to each one of us : "As 
the Father sent me, so I send you." My brethren, 
do we not need to ponder these words? What 
worth and dignity they give to human life and 
activity, when under the leadership of Jesus ! As 
the Father sent him to live and suffer for the 
redemption of the world, so he sends us. As 
Jesus is the Saviour, we are to be saviours. Paul 
expressed the thought of Christ when he exhorts 
men to imitate him. What a powerful motive 
to right living when we realize that we are per- 
petuating and continuing the work of Christ! 
What a commanding call to live a true and noble 



VICARIOUS SUFFERING. 97 

life when we are conscious that in some sense, by 
so doing, we are working together with God for 
the redemption of the world. In its largest sense, 
this is what it means to be a Christian. We have 
been taken into fellowship with Jesus, and are re- 
producing his life, the life that a child of God 
should live among men. 

But a live of holy love cannot exist, cannot be 
lived in the midst of a sinful world, without suf- 
fering because of the sin that exists. The greatest 
rebuke that sin can have is a sinless life. In the 
case of Jesus, the rebuke that his life gave to the 
religionists of his day was so severe that they 
clamored for his death. And the same tragedy 
has been repeated in the lives of not a few of the 
followers of Jesus. 

Is there no other way to secure the emancipa- 
tion of man's spirit from the power of self-will ? 
Can man be brought into fellowship with God 
only through suffering — though the suffering of 
the good for the evil ? This may not be the only 
method, but the experience of the ages shows that 
it is the prevailing one — man's progress in nearly 
every direction has been achieved through suffer- 
ing. Physical liberty, civil liberty, and spiritual 
liberty, have not all of these been purchased for 
the race through suffering? The history of civil 
liberty is one long record of men who have suf- 
fered and died for the advancement pf their fel- 



98 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

lowmen. An adequate history of the spiritual 
progress of he race has never been written. Per- 
haps such a history could not be written. But 
we know enough of the facts to discover the in- 
variable method of spiritual progress. And that 
method may be termed vicarious sacrifice — the 
good suffering for the rest of the race. 

Christ states this principle when he says that a 
grain of wheat must fall into the ground and die 
before it could bring forth any harvest; and the 
same truth is couched in the familiar saying that 
the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. 

It was not, therefore, optional with Jesus 
whether he would give his life for the redemption 
of humanity: being the perfect Son of God he 
could not do otherwise. He said that he did not 
come to command the services of man, but in will- 
ing service to give himself for their redemption. 
And in this the disciple is not above his Lord. 
He who would enter into fellowship with Jesus, 
must, in some measure and in some way, give 
himself for the redemption of man. Christ suf- 
fered for us, leaving us an example that we should 
suffer for others. 

In the case of the missionary or the worker in 
the social settlement this principle is made very 
plain. The Christian lives the life of holy love, 
and in his limited way reveals God to the people 
about him, and shows them, in his own life, how 



VICARIOUS SUFFERING. 99 

a child of God should live. Such a life will have 
two effects: It will arouse opposition, will be 
misunderstood, persecuted; but it will also tend 
to awaken some to desire to live the life of a child 
of God. 

What is true of the missionary is true of every 
Christian, only it is more difficult to see it. It 
is the Christ-life, the Christ-activity, the Christ- 
love, that awakens in others a desire to be recon- 
ciled to God. Being true to the Christ-life in a 
sinful world entails suffering ; but if we can catch 
a glimpse of what it is for, if we can see our lives 
as a part of God's plan for the redemption of the 
race, for the joy of sharing in such a work we 
will endure our cross and despise its shame. May 
the Lord enable each one of us to see his life as a 
part of such a plan. Christ also suffered for you, 
leaving you an example that you should follow 
his steps. 

LofC. 



CHAPTER VII. 



CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST. 



" I have been crucified with Christ." — Paul. 
" The power of the new life is a power that sets free 
from sin." — William N. Clarke. 

The statement, " I have been crucified with 
Christ/' is either meaningless or a word of power; 
it is either the irrational expression of one whose 
mental faculties are working in hopeless confu- 
sion, and, consequently, liable to all sorts of hallu- 
cinations, or* it is a rapid sketch of one of the pro- 
foundest experiences of a human being. In this 
sentence, Paul is reading a line from his own spir- 
itual biography. Let us attempt to unfold its 
meaning. 

Paul regarded himself dead to his former life. 
" I have been crucified with Christ." In his let- 
ter to the Philippians, Paul says : " If any man 
thinketh to have confidence in the flesh, I yet 
more." " I was born and reared a strict Jew; I 
grew up a rigid loyalist and carried out my Phar- 
isaic zeal consistently, by persecuting the Chris- 
tians ; in conformity to the law, I fell short in no 



102 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

particular. But now I have renounced all these 
proud claims arid supposed advantages for the 
sake of Christ. All my legal righteousness and 
meritorious works I now esteem as utterly worth- 
less, compared to the saving knowledge of Christ. 
To me now they seem the merest refuse, if only 
I can make Christ my own, and find my true life 
in fellowship with him. I renounce all claim to 
acceptance with God on the ground of my obe- 
dience to the law, and seek acceptance and pardon 
solely through trust in Christ for salvation," 

In the case of Paul, the part that he had died 
to was not a life of immorality, or dishonesty ; he 
was an eminently moral man, correct in his con- 
duct, and zealous in doing what he belived to be 
right. I doubt not but that his word was as good 
as his bond. It is true that he tried to coerce 
others to give up beliefs that he considered dan- 
gerous; but this was a mistake of judgment 
rather than an evidence of irreligion. To what, 
then, did Paul die? He died to whatever had 
separated him from Christ. We might enter into 
details, but the comprehensive statement is, per- 
haps, better in this case. 

In principle Paul's case is typical of the Chris- 
tian experience. The Christian is one who has 
become dead to whatever has separated him from 
Christ. In some cases the individual has been 
kept from fellowship with Christ because of open 



CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST. 103 

and unconcealed sins. To be crucified with Christ 
means to die to these sins. Yes, my friend, there 
is release from the power of sin. It seems almost 
too good to be true, but it is true. It matters not 
how degraded has been the past, it matters not 
how powerfully certain forms of sin have taken 
possession of your life, there is release. You can 
become crucified to your past, you can escape 
from its power. Wonderful provision of a loving 
God ! There is an escape from the power of sin. 
By believing in Jesus Christ you may become as if 
you had been crucified to your past. You are dead 
to it, you are released from its awful bondage. 

It may be that the life has not been openly rep- 
rehensible, but merely negative. Did I say 
" merely " negative? I am sure we do not esti- 
mate a negative life as we should. It may be one 
of the highest forms of sin, a refined and culti- 
vated selfishness, an exclusive caste. It is not so 
repulsive as the life of immorality, and it may not 
be as blameworthy in the sight of God, but the 
teaching of Jesus gives little comfort to those 
who would rest in such an opinion. Any close 
observer of human nature will find, as Jesus did, 
that the apparently negative life may be further- 
removed from fellowship with God than the life 
that is openly reprehensible. Self-will and self- 
righteousness do not exclude one from polite so- 
ciety, but they are effectual barriers between the 



104 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

human soul and God. As spirit is more than the 
body, so sins of the spirit are more expressive of 
real hostility to God than sins of the appetites and 
passions. The negative life is frequently only 
apparently negative. Social customs and fear of 
public censure keep the individual from many 
forms of evil that would ostracize him from his 
friends. How much we owe to public opinion! 
Only he who dares to read his own heart knows 
how many times he has been kept, by public opin- 
ion, from blameworthy conduct. What a conflict 
to suppress envy and jealousy, and unwarranted 
prejudice, and live a life that is openly free from 
all evidence of these secret and constant inhabi- 
tants of the inner life! How unsatisfying such 
a life is! How the finer qualities of spirit are 
checked and dwarfed! 

In the case of the one whose life is openly 
wicked there is no pretense, there is no sham. 
He is an enemy to the best interests of society, 
but he fights in the open field, and is less danger- 
ous than an enemy in ambush. In any conflict a 
blow in the face is preferable to one in the back. 
The moral and religious interests of any commu- 
nity suffer more from the concealed and so-called 
respectable sins than from the more disreputable 
forms of vice. 

It is hard to escape from such a life, but it is 
not impossible. No, it is not impossible. By 



CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST. tog 

surrender to Jesus Christ it is possible to become 
dead to the old life and to escape from its awful 
power, from its soul-destroying bondage. What 
freedom ! what joy ! when one can say, I have been 
crucified with Christ; I am dead to the past. 
There is a clear and calm note of victory when the 
individual says, It is no longer I, but Christ. In 
proportion as the surrender is intense and com- 
plete will the life be released from its former 
bondage. 

This surrender to Jesus Christ as Lord and 
Master of our lives is a matter of degree; it is, 
perhaps, always more or less incomplete. We be- 
gin the Christian life by taking Christ as our 
Lord and Saviour. The little boy or girl in the 
Sunday-school may be taught to do this at a 
very early age. Children in the home should be 
trained to love God, and to live as Jesus would 
have them live, passing, by easy steps, into a life 
of love and service to God. If, however, this self- 
surrender does not take place in early childhood, 
it is exceedingly unwise to delay it from year to 
year. For the habits of life tend to fixedness and 
permanency. In the call to forsake a sinful life or 
practice there is always the note of urgency — now 
is the day of salvation. Stop the downward proc- 
ess at once ! It will be harder to do so next year. 

Surrender to Jesus Christ has not only a back- 
ward look — death to whatever has separated us 



io6 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

from God — it looks toward the future as well. 
When the past has been renounced and disowned 
by the individual, and forgiven by Almighty God, 
the new life to which we have risen in fellowship 
with Christ must express itself or it dies. This 
is a law of life in every realm — when once the life 
is begun, it must grow or die. In the spiritual 
life of man growth costs. He who has the light 
must live up to it or feel condemned. As the spir- 
itual life grows, as we increase in conformity to 
the divine image, it becomes natural to us to en- 
gage in Christlike activity. If we do not do so 
we are stifling the inner life. But the Christ-life 
costs. 

It took Paul from the most favored position 
among the leaders of his nation, where, with his 
splendid intellectual equipment, it is almost cer- 
tain he would soon have risen to one of the highest 
positions in the gift of his people, and reduced 
him to a mere nobody, socially. It took him from 
the congenial associations of men and women of 
culture and made him the associate of those 
whose lives had never been opened to the intel- 
lectual heritage from preceding generations. The 
Christ-life sent him forth to scourgings, and im- 
prisonments and death. In one of his letters, Paul 
speaks of the fellowship of Christ's sufferings. 
Yes, it cost Paul something to be a Christian. The 
Christ-love sent him forth " to preach the Gospel 



CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST. 107 

amid his daily death of hatreds, miseries, and 
cruel persecutions, till, like the blaze of beacon 
fires kindled from hill to hill, its glory flashed 
from Jerusalem to Antioch, to Ephesus, and to 
Troas .... to Athens and to Imperial 
Rome." 

Nor is the case of Paul an exception. 
All of the apostles, save perhaps one, yielded 
their lives rather than suppress or deny 
the Christ-love implanted in their own hearts. 
Persecution after persecution decimated the 
ranks of the early Christians; but the more they 
were persecuted, the intenser grew their zeal. 
Recall the prolonged persecution of the Walden- 
sians and of various Christian communities dur- 
ing the reign of the Inquisitors : recall the Thirty 
Years' War, and the lesser disturbances connected 
with the Reformation. 

It is well for us to review what Christianity 
has cost other men in other periods of the history 
of the church. Few things will help us more in 
our Christian life than a careful study of the 
lives of those who have suffered for the sake of 
Christ. Such a study will lead to a very practical 
question : In what ways does the Christ-life cost 
me anything ? 

What is it costing you in sympathy? Human 
hearts all about you are hungering for sympathy. 
Children are driven to tell their troubles to some 



io8 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

kind-hearted neighbor because the father and 
mother give them no sympathy when they most 
need it. Husbands are forced to resort to clubs 
and men's organizations and wives to women's 
organizations, in order to find what the human 
heart must have and will find somewhere — the 
sympathetic touch. What are you doing to re- 
lieve this abnormal condition and to restore the 
home to its rightful place of central importance? 

Sympathy tries to understand the other per- 
son's position; it recognizes his difficulties and 
does not withhold the word of appreciation. 
True sympathy in church life impels one to seek 
out the friendless or the stranger, and forgoes, if 
need be, the chat with old friends. It breaks 
down social barriers and seeks the common 
ground of human need. 

There is a most intimate connection between 
human sympathy and religious capacity. He who 
had the keenest spiritual vision among the dis- 
ciples, wrote : " If a man say I love God, and 
hateth his brother, he is a liar : for he that loveth 
not his brother whom he hath seen, cannot love 
God whom he hath not seen." Where do we find 
the tenderest human sympathy, a " sympathy 
which vibrated to every pang of human nature? " 
There is only one answer : it is found in the Christ. 
And our Saviour's love to the Father was propor- 
tionate to his love for man. And I think it a 



CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST. 109 

safe statement to make when I say that our love to 
God may be measured by our sympathy with man. 
He who does not love his brother has not qualified 
himself to love his God. 

Nearly all of the disorders of society come 
through a lack of sympathy. We see at once the 
humanitarian side of Christianity. There is a 
principle deeper than we can unfold, in the words 
of Christ when he is setting forth the separation 
between the good and the evil. He invites the good 
and addresses them : When I was hungry, you 
gave me food; when I was thirsty, you gave me 
something to drink; when I was a stranger you 
took me to your homes; when I was half naked 
you clothed me; when I fell ill, you visited me; 
when I was in prison, you came to see me. On 
this the Good will answer, Master, when did we 
see you hungry, and feed you ? or thirsty, and give 
you something to drink? When did we see you 
a stranger, and take you to our homes? or half- 
naked, and clothe you ? When did we see you ill, 
or in prison, and come to visit you? And the 
Master made reply. "So far as you did so to one 
of these my brothers, however lowly, you did it to 
me." Yes, the word of John must be true: He 
that loveth not his brother .... cannot 
love his God. 

What a motive this gives to all humanitarian 
work when such work is not a bid for a popular 



no THE CHANGING VIEW -POINT. 

favor but a true expression of the human spirit. 
" Inasmuch as you did it unto one of these my 
brethren, even these least, you did it unto me." 

My friends, may it not be possible that we need 
to ponder these words? For who of us loves his 
fellow man as he ought? Love suffers long, is 
kind, love envies not, love vaunts not itself, is not 
puffed up, is not provoked, imputes no evil, bears 
all things, endures all things. Carried to its 
highest degree, love find its full and complete ex- 
pression in the life and activity of our Saviour; 
expressed imperfectly and in a limited degree in 
our lives, the Christ-love suffers and endures, and 
if need be, seeks not its own. 

There are many other ways in which the Christ- 
life costs. It may cost the business man his posi- 
tion; the statesman his office; the editor his sub- 
scribers ; and instances are not unknown where it 
has cost separation from all that is dear. The in- 
dwelling Christ-life, what is it costing you? Be 
assured that it is the inherent nature of godliness 
to disturb our sloth, our indifference, our inac- 
tivity, to make us unsatisfied with our present 
attainments in holiness by opening before our vis- 
ion, or rather by clearing our vision so that we 
may see how far we are from what we might have 
become, and what we ought to be. 

If we may join with St. Paul, in saying I have 
been crucified with Christ, if we have had the glad 



CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST. in 

experience of having been loosed from the bond- 
age of sin, by belief in our Saviour, and can say : 
It is no longer I but Christ who lives, let us enter 
joyfully into whatever experiences fidelity to the 
Christ-life may entail. There is some kind of ac- 
tivity in which this indwelling life will find ex- 
pression. 

It may be that your sphere of influence will be 
circumscribed by the boundaries of the home, that 
your life work is to gently but firmly mould the 
young lives entrusted to your care. What a call 
to live the Christ-life when one knows every mood 
and temper and shade of disposition are having 
their certain effect upon those whom the parent 
loves better than life! But it may be that as a 
child or young man or woman you are sur- 
rounded by loved ones who have never been awak- 
ened to the religious life; what a responsibility, 
what an opportunity ! You, too, have one of the 
strongest calls of God to live a life that will win 
those whom you love to find peace and fullness of 
life in fellowship with Jesus Christ. The teacher, 
too, stands on the very threshold of opportunity. 
The silent, unconscious outgoing of spiritual in- 
spiration and power may benefit your pupils far 
more than the most competent instruction in the 
branches taught. 

The great attainment of life is purity of heart. 
All else is secondary, all else without this is poor 



ii2 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT, 

and unsatisfying. The pure in heart shall see God. 
The sins that so easily beset the unfortified life 
lose their mastery and power as we decrease and 
the Christ-life within us increases. Let us ponder 
more and more and make one of our companion 
thoughts that wonderful saying of Paul, " I have 
been crucified with Christ; yet I live; and yet no 
longer I, but Christ liveth in me/' 



CHAPTER VIII. 

SELF-RENUNCIATION. 

"If any man would come after me, he must renounce 
self, take up his cross and follow me." — Jesus. 

"When unselfishness and the highest helpful affection 
form our law of living, then we have struck a chord in the 
eternal harmony." — William N. Clarke. 

My text this morning leads us into the very 
centre of the Gospel. In it Jesus defines one of 
the things that man needs most to know. It con- 
tains a truth which, though one of the most neces- 
sary, is also one that is easily forgotten or set 
aside by other considerations. This statement of 
Jesus, like many of his sayings, indeed, like all 
statements of spiritual realities, means more and 
more to us as we gain power and capacity of heart 
and mind to understand and comprehend them. 
Reading the statement of a profound spiritual 
reality is something like looking at a beautiful pic- 
ture : we get much or little, in proportion to our 
own willingness and ability to comprehend. If a 
masterpiece of art is to feed our aesthetic nature, 
we must let it have power over us by opening our 
natures to it ; if our inner life is to be fed by the 



li 4 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

sayings of Jesus we must let them possess us, we 
must meditate upon them, turn them over in our 
minds, and make them the pasturage for our souls. 

As the oriental shepherd leads his flock into 
green pasturage, your pastor would ask you to 
feed upon the saying of Jesus which I have 
selected for my text. 

This saying is a pasturage that we all need be- 
cause it sets forth the foundation principles of the 
Christian life. "If any man would come after me" 
— how many times we have read these words with 
our eyes open but our minds closed ! If any man 
wishes to be my disciple he must — ah! how dif- 
ferently from the way Jesus completed it the 
church has filled out the remainder of the sen- 
tence. The Pharisees said, If any one would be 
religious he must do the things required by the 
law and the traditions. Their quarrel with Jesus 
was not concerning beliefs, for it made little dif- 
ference with the religious authorities what a man 
believed so long as he performed the requirements 
of the law and of the traditions. And our Mas- 
ter's severest condemnation was called down upon 
them because they were particular about certain 
outward requirements and neglected the weightier 
things pertaining to the inner life. Listen to 
Jesus as he says :" Alas for you Rabbis and Phari- 
sees, hypocrites that you are! — because you pay 
tithes on mint, fennel and caraway-seed, and have 



SELF-RENUNCIA TION. 



"5 



neglected the weightier matters of the Law — jus- 
tice, mercy, and good faith . . . Alas for 
you, Rabbis and Pharisees, hypocrites that you 
are! — because you clean the outside of the cup 
and of the dish, while inside they are full of the 
fruits of grasping and self-indulgence. You blind 
Pharisees ! First clean the inside of the cup and 
the dish, that so the outside may become clean 
as well. ,, 

The Pharisees became hostile to Jesus because 
he did not keep their outward requirements ; Jesus 
called the Pharisees to account because their re- 
ligion had to do only with the keeping of certain 
religious observances and did not necessarily 
touch the inner springs of heart and life. 

There is a tendency in human nature which 
leads every individual and every generation to- 
ward the mistake of the Pharisees; it is a ten- 
dency that we all have to take into account and 
which everyone has to counteract. It is the ten- 
dency of misplacing our emphasis, of thinking that 
religion is the doing of this or that requirement, 
and of not seeing that religion is something that 
has to do with the inner man. We need constantly 
to check and to correct our own imperfect concep- 
tions of religion by meditating upon the teaching 
of Jesus. 

" If any man would come after me, he must re- 
nounce self." At the very beginning of the Chris- 



ti6 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT, 

tian life, the first requirement demanded by Jesus 
of those who would be his followers, sweeps away 
the externalities and outward requirements of his 
day. The problem of life cannot be solved by con- 
forming our conduct to this or that standard : we 
must get deeper, deeper. He who would really 
be my followers must first renounce self. And 
why does the Master say this ? Why does he place 
self-renunciation at the very door of disciple- 
ship? Will it attract men to him? Is it what 
men want ? What men wanted did not enter into 
the thought of Jesus ; he was concerned with their 
needs. As he looked with the clearest spiritual 
vision into the human heart, our Saviour saw that 
one of the first needs of the human life was and 
is to change its center. Human nature, as we 
know it, when untouched by the renewing grace 
of God, has as the supreme motive for its action 
the interests and inclinations of one's self. Car- 
ried to its extreme and logical end, self-interests 
and self-inclinations, if a man were not restrained 
by the usages and customs of society, lead to all 
and every form of sin and degradation. Analyze 
wrong doing and the corrupt practices, its frauds, 
its untruthfulness, its dishonesty, its strife, its 
worst and darkest dealings and what is the motive 
for it all? — what is its cause? In our short- 
sightedness we may say it is this cause or that 
cause. But if we see as deeply and as truly as did 



SELF-RENUNCIA TION. 1 1 7 

Jesus, we, too, shall see the cause of all wickedness 
and sin in the fact that man is making himself the 
motive and end of his activity. The great Teacher 
goes at once to the root of the matter. If you wish 
to be my disciples you must first renounce self. 

In making this demand Christ did not ask for 
anything new nor for anything with which men 
were unacquainted. At that day and through the 
ages before, as well as since, self-renunciation un- 
derlay all noble endeavor and worthy living. No 
moral excellence has ever been attained without 
it; all arts and skill have been made possible 
through self-renunciation. In so far as men have 
made skill or attainment of any kind or moral ex- 
cellence an object for which to strive, these have 
drawn men away from self-inclinations which, 
when one lives for them alone, lead to separation 
from God and humanity. 

In calling men to renounce self, Jesus is not 
asking for anything new; he is rather inviting 
men to carry a common every-day process up 
to its highest possible use. 

In an enlightened community it is perhaps im- 
possible for a man to be totally given over to self, 
even though he should deliberately choose to live 
such a life. Society would have to relapse to its 
lowest stages of savagedom in order to make this 
possible. And even then it would scarcely be pos- 
sible. But the tendency of a self-centered life is 



n8 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

always in the direction of a relapse into savage- 
dom. And exactly as a race or as individuals re- 
nounce self and live for something outside of 
themselves, do we climb the gradual ascent into 
the realization of our powers. 

It has been pointed out by Professor Drum- 
mond that there are two tendencies in every liv- 
ing thing — that which leads to self-preservation, 
and that which finds expression in preserving and 
sustaining the life of others. What he calls " The 
Struggle for the Life of Others " — but another 
name for self-renunciation — is living for some- 
thing, some one beside ourselves. As this second 
tendency or principle has been a power in the race 
it has guided humanity over a path which, how- 
ever devious and winding, one thing about it has 
been certain : it is a path that rises, a path over 
which the race has trod as it passed from savage- 
dom to civilization. "As in the animal kingdom, 
the senses open one by one — the eye progressing 
from the mere discernment of light and darkness 
to the blurred image of things near, and then to 
clearer vision of things more remote ; the ear pass- 
ing from the tremulous sense of vibration to dis- 
tinguish with ever-increasing delicacy the sounds 
of far-off things — so in the higher world the 
moral and spiritual senses rise and quicken till 
they compass qualities unknown before, and im- 
possible to the limited faculties of the earlier life." 



SELF-RENUNCIA TION. 1 1 9 

Therefore, when Christ places the renunciation 
of self at the very threshold of the Christian life 
he is carrying up to its highest use a principle 
which has guided humanity and which the race 
has followed in some degree from the very first. 
His call differs from the self-taught wisdom 
learned everywhere by the race in that whereas 
every one knows the value of, and the necessity 
for, self-renunciation in order to gain certain 
things, Jesus calls us to a complete transfer of 
motive and purpose. What has worked so bene- 
ficiently when we have followed it in part, Jesus 
invites us to make applicable to every thought and 
action. He who would come after me, says the 
Master, must renounce self; and the reason for 
this demand is not arbitrary, but grounded in 
man's very constitution. 

We come now to an exceedingly important 
consideration : renunciation of self has value and 
worth given to such an act by the thing or ob- 
ject or person we install in the place of self. 
Self-renunciation in some degree is a necessity 
of the human soul; a man cannot normally exist 
without working for, and loving something other 
than himself. This is as inherent, as natural for 
him as breathing, eating or looking up at the 
stars. The call of Jesus would be incomplete 
if it stopped with self-renunciation; but it does 
not stop with it. " If any man would come after 



1 20 THE CHANGING VIEW -POINT, 

me, he must renounce self, take up his cross and 
follow me." Renunciation of self is only the ini- 
tial step; personal attachment to Jesus Christ 
gives such an act its value and its worth. Re- 
nunciation digs deep for the laying of a founda- 
tion and the erection of a worthy edifice. Re- 
nunciation is negative, a garden without weeds; 
the garden becomes beautiful only when filled 
with fruits and flowers. 

" If any man would come after me, he must 
renounce self, take up his cross, and follow 
me." In other words, he who would be a Chris- 
tian must not only cease making himself his first 
and chief consideration ; he must at whatever cost 
put God in the place that self has occupied. This 
is what it means to take up our cross and follow 
Jesus. It means that God, our heavenly Father, 
is to have the same place in our lives as he had in 
the life of Christ. We are to follow Jesus, not 
in his actual footsteps, of course ; nor in doing the 
things he did; but in his attitude of heart and 
mind toward his and our heavenly Father. It 
was not Christ's purpose to save a man here and 
there, a few out of a wrecked world; he tells us 
that he came to bring the abundant life to men, 
to become their light, which, if followed, would 
lead them out of darkness into light. " Christ 
came to witness to the glory of God and the no- 
bility of his works by redeeming that which man 



SELF-RENUNCIA TION. 1 2 1 

had corrupted, and restoring that which man had 
defiled." 

But every one who places God in the center of 
his life, by so doing opens a path before him 
which leads to a cross. In the case of our 
Saviour, this path led to his death; and many 
have been the martyrs that have been com- 
pelled, as was Jesus, to yield their lives as a 
witness to the truth. Your path and mine 
may not lead to such an end; but we have 
not rightly apprehended the call of our Master 
if it has not led us to the bearing of some cross. 
"If any man would come after me, he must re- 
nounce self/' he must take up his cross. 

What is meant by the term " cross " in this and 
similar connections? Jesus speaks of his fol- 
lowers taking up their cross daily. Jesus does 
not mean that his followers are to meet death 
daily; the meaning is rather that they are will- 
ingly to endure whatever comes as a result of 
enthroning God in their lives. This was his 
cross, his daily cross, and he said that those who 
wished to be his followers must take up their 
cross daily, must willingly endure each day 
whatever came as a result of enthroning God in 
their lives. Cross-bearing is being true to the 
light we possess. We take up our cross when we 
refuse to engage in a practice which, it matters 
not how common it may be, our loyalty to the will 



122 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

of God condemns. We take up our cross when, 
inclination saying one thing and duty whispering 
another, we do the biddings of our enlightened 
conscience. We take up our cross when we sac- 
rifice ease or pleasure to have time to attend to 
the ordinary duties of the church, which is the 
visible body of Christ on earth. We take up our 
cross when we cultivate a Christlike disposition 
toward our fellow men. We take up our cross 
as we crucify day by day the desires and inclina- 
tions that lead us away from God and that alien- 
iate us from humanity. Witnessing in act and 
with word to the redeeming love of Jesus; obey- 
ing the impulse from above when custom would 
not demand it; choosing a higher good when an 
inferior good would make less demands upon 
us — these are some of the forms of bearing one's 
cross. 

But the cross is a means to an end. Do you 
ask what is the end ? It is the redemption of the 
world. Christ suffered; he suffered for the re- 
demption of the race — for your redemption and 
mine. O that we could understand it when he in- 
vites us to take up our cross and follow him, that 
this call is an invitation to share in his glorious 
work! Will you take up your cross? Will you 
endure whatever comes as a result of enthron- 
ing God in your life? Will you follow Jesus in 
suffering to redeem men from ignorance and sin ? 



SELF-RENUNCIA TION. 1 2 3 

Let us listen to the Master's words again as he 
says, He who would come after me must re- 
nounce self as I have renounced self, he must take 
up his cross daily as I take up my cross daily. 
Brethren, such a fellowship with Jesus in his 
redemptive work gives the highest worth and ex- 
cellence to human life, and develops in the human 
heart a peace akin to the peace of God that pass- 
eth all understanding, and a joy not unlike that 
which was set before Jesus, for which he en- 
dured the cross and despised the shame. Breth- 
ren, let us think upon these things. 



CHAPTER IX. 

REPENTANCE. 

"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand." — 
Jesus. 

"Repentance looks back and forsakes. Faith looks for- 
ward and accepts." — William N. Clarke. 

"All men enter into the kingdom of God by the same 
door." — Auguste Sabatier. 

If you should read an article on some political 
question in a non-partisan periodical, nine-tenths 
of it might apply to any political party : the coun- 
try is in danger and must be saved. While so 
large a part of the subject matter might be ap- 
plied to any political party, you are not left long 
in uncertainty about the position of the writer; 
the way he uses a few important terms enables 
you to locate him at once. I remember asking 
President Harris if he had read a certain recent 
work on philosophy; and he replied that he had 
not read it, for he knew just what the author 
would say on the topic he had treated. I asked 
to know his method of finding out what was in a 
book without reading it. "It is a very simple 
method," replied the Doctor, " I have read one or 



126 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

two books by this author and know what mean- 
ing he attaches to a few important words. Any 
treatise on philosophical subjects is but an ampli- 
fication of a few fundamental terms : know the 
fundamental conceptions of a philosopher and it 
is not necessary to read him further." 

This principle is true in perhaps every realm 
of careful thinking. Open a history and read a 
few pages; the author unconsciously gives his 
philosophy of world events by the way he uses 
certain words. I read his book to get the facts 
which he records, but the way he uses a few im- 
portant words gives me his underlying concep- 
tions, his point of view. And in history the fact 
or the event is not the important thing, but the 
interpretation of it. There are various schools 
of thought in economics, in medicine, in psy- 
chology, and a writer is located in one or the 
other of these by the way he uses certain im- 
portant terms. To illustrate : If a writer speaks 
of memory as a distinct faculty we know that he 
belongs to a certain school of thought on that 
subject. 

Christ's way of using a few words makes 
Christianity different from all other religions. 
Think of the light and love that Jesus put into 
the word " God ; " think of the dignity and worth 
he put into the word " man; " what breadth he 
gave to the term "forgive ;" what awfulness, what 



REPENTANCE. 127 

life-destroying power to the word " sin! " There 
are few things that would enable one to under- 
stand the teaching of Jesus better than a care- 
ful study of, say, a dozen important words used 
by him. As a possible introduction to such a 
study among yourselves, I have selected one of 
the words of Jesus for my text this morning; it 
is the word repentance. What does Jesus mean 
when he uses the word repent or repentance? 
And what place does this meaning have in his 
teaching ? 

Like the word " believe," which has an ordi- 
nary and an intenser meaning, Jesus uses the 
word " repent " in two senses. 

During our Saviour's prolonged struggle in 
the wilderness he set aside as unworthy this and 
that possible use of his power and his position. 
He has lived in the closest contact with his coun- 
trymen and knows their ideals and their hopes. 
He knows too well how the nation is chafing 
under the domination of a foreign master and 
how hateful is the publican or tax-gatherer. He 
knows how exacting are the Scribes and Phari- 
sees in their attempt to preserve the traditions 
and practices of the fathers. In common with 
all of his countrymen, Jesus had shared the hopes 
of his nation that God would send them a De- 
liverer. For generations the nation had looked 
and longed and hoped for his coming; it was 



128 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

this hope which had made them strong and cour- 
ageous, which during the first and second cen- 
tury before Christ had enabled them to repel and 
successfully resist the attacks of the Assyrians; 
but they were also attacked by the Romans. The 
Maccabean leaders, now in league with Rome 
against Assyria, now joined with Assyria against 
the world-conquering power, had preserved a 
struggling independence. On one occasion 
when Jerusalem was being besieged, the priests 
begged that their foes would admit enough ani- 
mals into the city so that they could celebrate 
their sacrifices for the Passover. It was agreed 
to let in the animals required, but for each one 
was demanded the immense sum of one thousand 
silver shekels. The requisite sum was let down 
over the city wall. The foe pocketed the money, 
but did not furnish the animals. Many such 
things occurred, which give evidence of the strug- 
gle of the people to maintain their religious prac- 
tices. At last Pompey himself marched into 
Judea and took Jerusalem by force. As the city 
surrendered the people, as many as could, with- 
drew into the Temple, where they held the be- 
siegers at bay for three months. Finally, on a 
great day of religious ceremonies, the Day of 
Atonement, when probably the walls were less 
strongly defended, the Roman army scaled the 
Temple wall and began a frightful massacre, in 



REPENTANCE. 129 

which twelve thousand persons lost their lives 
within the Temple confines. Pompey, despite 
the most urgent protests, entered the Holy of 
Holies. Judea was added to the Roman posses- 
sions, and a Roman vassal was placed in charge. 
The Jewish general who had opposed the Romans 
was taken to Rome and compelled to walk in 
front of Pompey's chariot on the occasion of his 
triumphal entry. This was only a little over a 
half of a century before Jesus was born. Do we 
wonder that the Jews hated the Romans, that 
their hearts were filled with an intense longing 
for the promised Deliverer ? 

At the death of Pompey, confusion again arose 
in Judea. The national party wrested the author- 
ity from the Romans, and the city had to be re- 
captured. In 39 B. C, the Roman senate ap- 
pointed Herod king of Judea. But Jerusalem 
would not admit him. After a siege of forty days 
the outer wall was taken, and, fifteen days later, 
the inner wall. But, as before, the final resistance 
was at the Temple. In the third month, on a Sab- 
bath, the Temple was stormed and captured, and 
a fearful slaughter ensued, in which neither age 
nor sex was spared. The leader of the opposi- 
tion was thrown into prison, and finally beheaded. 
This was only a generation before the birth of 
Jesus. The Jews desired a high priest; and 



130 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

Herod appointed the seventeen-year-old son of 
his mother-in-law to fill that position. 

Herod was hated by his countrymen, over 
whom he ruled; and he " repaid their hatred 
with the fiercest hostility and the most implacable 
vengeance. " 

Herod died at about the time of the birth of 
Jesus, and left his kingdom to his three surviving 
sons, Arclielaus, Herod Antipas and Philip. The 
rule of Philip, in the north, was mild and gentle. 
The other two sons were cruel, like their father. 
Herod Antipas executed John the Baptist. Arch- 
elaus died, after ruling over Judea for nine years, 
in which he exercised extreme barbarity and 
tyranny. 

From this time, A. D. 6, Judea was under the 
rule of Roman procurators. " Of the first four 
of these we know scarcely more than their 
names." During the rule of the first procu- 
rator, some Samaritans entered the Temple and 
scattered through it some human bones, which 
they had concealed under their cloaks. This was 
at the Passover season, and the Temple was made 
unclean for seven days, and the Passover could 
not be celebrated at all. The fourth procurator 
appointed and removed not less than five high 
priests in eleven years. Pontius Pilate came to 
the office of procurator in the year 26, and ruled 
for ten years. 



REPENTANCE. 



*3* 



The Roman officials, generally, had no appre- 
ciation or understanding of the Jewish character ; 
" but, on the contrary, regarded them with dislike 
and contempt, and took a fiendish delight in 
making the unfortunate race feel their power, and 
in offending and mocking them in every conceiv- 
able manner." I ask again, Was it not natural for 
the countrymen of Jesus to desire, and earnestly 
long for, a Deliverer who should set them free 
from such oppressive and sacrilegious tyranny ? 

Do we not need to look at the wilderness 
struggle of Jesus, in view of the hopes and long- 
ings of the nation? He knew of this oppression 
and tyranny ; and with his people had shared the 
hope that a Deliverer might soon arise, who 
would release them from the Roman yoke. Two 
or three had arisen, and claimed to be the one 
promised to restore the independence of the na- 
tion. In each case they had gained some follow- 
ing, but the people generally did not accept them, 
and they had perished by the Roman soldiery. 

When John the Baptist came, calling the peo- 
ple to get ready for the Messiah, the Deliverer, 
he spoke what the people expected to hear, and 
many responded. Among those who came to join 
this movement was John's cousin, Jesus, from the 
town of Nazareth, a city noted for its wickedness. 

John had been calling the people to repent from 
their sins, and get ready for the Messiah; and 



132 



THE CHANGING VIEW -POINT. 



most of the people were in sad need of heeding 
such a call. But when Jesus came to be initiated 
into this movement, John, who knew of the purity 
of his cousin's life, said that it would be more 
fitting for them to exchange places. 

After his baptism, it dawns upon Jesus that he 
is the expected Deliverer, the promised one of 
God; and he retires in solitude, and engages in 
a remarkable mental struggle " caused by the 
nascent consciousness of supernatural power." 
We must not forget that Jesus was tempted as 
we would have been tempted; and that the pos- 
session of extraordinary power is the occasion for 
the greatest temptations with which man can be 
assailed. Jesus sets aside the conception of his 
mission held generally by his countrymen: they 
were oppressed by the Romans, it was true ; 
but Jesus now saw that the deliverance he had 
been called to effect among his people was deeper 
and profounder than a restoration to political in- 
dependence ; his was the mission to lead man into 
a freedom of spirit, to release man from the op- 
pression and tyranny of ignorance, superstition 
and sin. 

Why did it take him several weeks to decide 
upon his life-plan, weeks in which even the nat- 
ural wants of the body were forgotten? Was it 
because the conception of his mission, which now 



REPENTANCE. 



*33 



possessed him, was diametrically opposite to what 
his countrymen expected of him? 

In the verses following the account of the 
temptation, Mark tells us that Jesus began to 
preach. He did not go home, nor continue to 
work at his trade; he at once entered upon the 
work of a religious teacher. We are also told the 
central theme of his preaching. In view of what 
had been going on in his mind while in the wilder- 
ness, there was only one message with which he 
could begin his work. And what was that 
message ? 

Jesus did not at once announce himself to be 
the Messiah. And why ? For the obvious reason 
that they would not accept him : he was not the 
kind of Messiach they expected. So he starts with 
the only message that he could begin with. Mark 
and Matthew give us his theme: Change your 
minds, and believe the Good News. 

In the Gospels we have only the briefest record 
of what Jesus said and did. St. John tells us in 
the last verse of his gospel that " there are many 
other things which Jesus did ; but if every one of 
them were to be recorded in detail, I do not sup- 
pose that even the world itself would hold the 
books that would have to be written." So, when 
Mark says, " Jesus went to Galilee, proclaiming 
the Good News of God, saying ' The time has 
come, and the Kingdom of God is close at hand; 



i 3 4 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

change your minds and believe the Good News/ " 
we have the central theme of the early part of 
his preaching, a theme which he amplified, illus- 
trated and set forth time after time. His en- 
deavor and purpose were to change the concep- 
tion which the people held concerning the work 
and the mission of the Messiah. Change your 
minds is exactly what the word " repent " means 
in its primary significance. And from the condi- 
tions briefly outlined, we see that the word is 
used in its primary meaning. Jesus calls his coun- 
trymen to change their minds about the Kingdom 
of God. If we had in full one of his sermons of 
this early period, we could then see how Jesus at- 
tempted to bring the people over from a political 
to a spiritual conception of the Kingdom of God 
and of the mission of the Messiah. 

This primary meaning of the word " repent/' 
a change of mind, an act purely intellectual, is 
not the only use of the term. Luke tells us that 
when Jesus was gathering together his disciples 
" he noticed a tax-gatherer, named Levi, sitting 
in the tax-office, and he said to him : ' Follow 
me.' Levi left everything, and got up and fol- 
lowed him. Later on, Levi gave a great entertain- 
ment at his house, in honor of Jesus; and a large 
number of tax-gatherers and others were at the 
table with them. The Pharisees and the Rabbis 
belonging to their party found fault with the dis- 



REPENTANCE. 



135 



ciples of Jesus : ' Why do you eat and drink with 
tax-gatherers and godless people ? ' It was Jesus 
who answered them. He said : ' It is not those 
who are well who need a doctor, but only those 
who are ill. I have not come to call the pious, 
but the godless, to repent.' " In this connection 
repent means more than an intellectual act, more 
than a mere change of mind; it means a change 
of will, a change of moral purpose. The under- 
lying conception is the same ; but it is deeper and 
broader, and has to do with the moral and the 
spiritual, rather than with the intellectual, only. 

Jesus said he had not come to call the pious, but 
the godless, to repent. Here we touch a funda- 
mental difference between the teaching of Jesus 
and what other founders of religion have taught. 
Christ calls men to repentance: the founders of 
other religions have called men to do penance. 
There is a world-wide difference in the meaning 
of these two terms; and those branches of Chris- 
tianity that call men to do penance depart from 
one of the profoundest conceptions of Christ. Pen- 
ance is something to be done. The monk sleeps 
on an iron bed, and wears a hair shirt and de- 
prives himself of nearly everything that minis- 
ters to his comfort. He is doing penance. He is 
trying to atone for his sins by self-inflicted pun- 
ishment. In those non-Christian religions, where 



136 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

the sense of sin is profound, penance, in the form 
of self-inflicted tortures, is very common. 

Very frequently penance is the outward expres- 
sion of a real inner change ; but more often, per- 
haps, it expresses the desire to gain peace of 
mind, to gain a release from the pangs of remorse 
by doing something disagreeable ; because one of 
the central ideas in penance is doing something 
disagreeable. 

This method of purchasing peace of mind is 
a defective one, because it does not strike to the 
root of the matter. Remorse and anguish of spirit 
are caused by sinning against God, our fellow- 
men, or against one's self. The unworthy act 
emanates from a condition of heart which is not 
rightly disposed toward God and man. Penance 
does not reach the will or the disposition of heart. 
It need not be anything more than a purely out- 
ward act, a physical discomfort or torture. 
Thieves have been known to give a part of their 
ill-gotten wealth to benevolent causes, in order to 
gain somewhat of a respite from the harrowing 
pangs of conscience. Having done something 
which has called down upon us our own self- judg- 
ment, penance seeks to counteract the penalty of 
this self-judgment by doing something to atone 
for the unworthy act. 

Wherein is the defect of this method of escap- 
ing remorse and self-judgment? The defect is 



REPENTANCE. 137 

evident, and in this : penance does not necessarily 
effect any change of heart or will; it is tempo- 
rary ; it does not transform the inner life. Pen- 
ance seeks to remove the penalty of wrong-doing, 
but does not remove the cause, does not change 
the moral nature which expressed itself in the un- 
worthy act. Penance is an attempt, and often an 
attempt that succeeds, to adjust the inner forces 
of life with reference to one act ; but it leaves the 
individual liable to call down upon himself the 
distressing element of self-condemnation as soon 
as an occasion or conditions call forth another act 
which is sinful and blameworthy. 

Christ saw that men did not need so much to 
deal with single unworthy acts as with the condi- 
tion of heart that made such acts possible. There- 
fore, we do not hear him calling men to do pen- 
ance, but to repent. His call summons men to a 
change of heart and of moral purpose. Oh, that 
we understood the gracious provision of our 
heavenly Father in making the constitution of 
man so that he can repent! Remorse and self- 
condemnation are not evils to be escaped by the 
doing of something to deaden or counteract them ; 
they are the warning messengers of God, his 
police, as it were, to keep man from going to de- 
struction. They put barriers in the downward 
path that prick us, and in their mute language tell 
us that we are where we do not belong. A Chris- 



i 3 3 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT, 

tian may have to suffer for the sins of his ances- 
tors; he may suffer through the misdeeds of his 
associates ; he may gladly suffer to aid in accom- 
plishing the redemption of the world from igno- 
rance, superstition and sin; but he who under- 
stands the function of remorse will not regard it 
as something to be endured heroically or to be 
escaped by penance; for remorse is one of the 
kindest provisions of God. It is a continuation 
of Christ's call to repentance. 

We should not, therefore, seek to escape from 
remorse, but should seek to remove its cause. Re- 
pentance is the turning away from an unworthy 
course of action. It is one of the deepest, pro- 
foundest and worthiest acts of man; to be able 
to repent is one of man's highest privileges. Jesus 
calls man to enter into this high privilege. Oh, 
that we understood and valued this privilege ! 



i \ 



CHAPTER X. 

FORGIVENESS. 

"Forgive us our debts." — Jesus. 

"Forgiving each other, even as God in Christ forgave 
3'ou." — Paul. 

"So far as penalty consists in the disapproval of God, 
forgiveness annuls it." — William N. Clarke. 

"Even with the limitations of our human life, we recog- 
nize that repentance is always a valid ground for forgive- 
ness, and the father who would close his door to a repentant 
son would be regarded as a monster and not a father." — 
Amory H. Bradford. 

Xenophon intends to say a very commendable 
thing of Cyrus the Younger when he writes of 
him that no one had done more good to his friends 
or more harm to his enemies. This statement was 
in full accord with the popular belief of that time ; 
to do an enemy more harm than he had done you 
was one of the highest traits of manhood. This 
sentiment was held not only among the Greeks, 
but seems to have been common among other 
peoples. You recall the Old Testament precepts, 
an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. This 
seems harsh to us, and unchristian; and so it is. 
But we must remember that it was a long step in 



i 4 o THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

advance from what preceded. Hitherto, if one 
person injured another, there was no restraint up- 
on the injured person. For a small offense, he 
might take the life of the offender. His satisfac- 
tion, or revenge, was limited only by his power to 
do the other party harm. An eye for an eye, and 
a tooth for a tooth, restrained unlimited revenge. 

The great Teacher would lead us into a wholly 
different atmosphere. He says, The principle, an 
eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth has had its 
day. As my followers, you are not to return evil 
for evil. You have been taught that you should 
love your neighbor and hate your enemy ; but I say 
unto you, love your enemies, and pray for them 
that persecute you ; that you may be sons of your 
Father which is in heaven ; for he makes the sun 
to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain 
upon the just and the unjust. Notice that the 
motive urged by Christ, why we should forgive 
injuries, is that we may become sons of our 
heavenly Father. 

The petition, Forgive us our debts, carries with 
it the condition, as we also have forgiven our 
debtors. This makes every man carry a measure 
in which to bring back his blessing. In Oriental 
cities women gather at a public fountain to get 
water for their household. What each one gets 
depends on the size of the water-jar she brings to 
the fountain. So it is with man in coming to the 
fountain of divine forgiveness: as we have for- 



FORGIVENESS. 141 

given, God forgives us. Let us, then, change the 
emphasis to the right place. It is well to go to the 
fountain; but what we get is determined by the 
measure we take with us. What measure are we 
taking to the fountain? 

You have heard, perhaps, of the prayer of the 
unforgiving man, " O God, I have sinned against 
thee many times, from my youth up until now. I 
have often been forgetful of thy goodness ; I have 
not duly thanked thee for thy mercies; I have 
neglected thy service ; I have broken thy laws ; I 
have done many things utterly wrong against 
thee. All this I know; and, besides this, doubt- 
less I have committed many secret sins, which, 
in my blindness, I have failed to notice. Such is 
my guiltiness, O Lord, in thy sight ; deal with me, 
I beseech thee, even as I deal with my neighbor. 
He has not offended me one-tenth, one-hundredth 
part as much as I have offended thee ; but he has 
offended me very grievously, and I cannot for- 
give him. Deal with me, I beseech thee, O Lord, 
as I deal with him. He has been very ungrateful 
to me, though not a tenth, not a hundredth part 
as ungrateful as I have been to thee ; yet I can- 
not overlook such base and shameful ingratitude. 
Deal with me, I beseech thee, O Lord, as I deal 
with him. I remember and treasure up every 
little trifle which hows how ill he has behaved 
to me. Deal with me, I beseech thee, O Lord, as I 



142 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

deal with him. I am determined to take the very 
first opportunity of doing him an ill turn. Deal 
with me, I beseech thee, O Lord, as I deal with 
him." 

There are very few of us that have ever pre- 
sented such a petition in words. But any unfor- 
giveness in our own hearts makes us say to God, 
whenever we pray this prayer, Deal with me as I 
deal with him: forgive me, as I have forgiven 
him. Sometimes it occurs in families that one 
member is estranged from another. They may 
live in the same town, and never speak to each 
other. Listen as they pray, Forgive us our debts, 
as we also have forgiven our debtors; which* of 
course, means, deal with me as I deal with him. 
What measure do they bring to the fountain? 
Surely, it is a measure inverted, upside down. 
They ask God for a blessing, but have no room for 
it in their hearts. If we love not our brother 
whom we have seen, we cannot love God, whom 
we have not seen. He who truly seeks forgiveness 
from God will have a forgiving spirit toward his 
fellowman. 

But what is it to forgive another? What do 
we do ? Let us see. A young man sins against his 
father, and spends his living in dissipation. He 
repents of his error, and returns to the parental 
roof. At once the father, who sees that the boy 
is truly sorry, throws his arms about him, and his 



FORGIVENESS. 



*43 



misdeeds stand no longer between them. Does the 
father wait until the lad could earn enough money 
to pay back what he had wasted? No, the past 
is past, and forgiveness covers it all. A little boy 
breaks a window. He comes to his mother with 
tears streaming down his cheeks. " I'm so sorry 
that I did it, mamma." What does the mother 
do? Does she say: " I cannot forgive you un- 
less you pay for the window? " She gathers the 
sobbing child to her bosom, and says : " Mother 
knows you are sorry, little one; don't cry any 
more." Can you imagine a mother saying to a 
sobbing child: 'You ought to be punished for 
breaking the window. And if I am not to punish 
you, I must punish some one. If you are not to be 
punished, I must punish your brother, before I 
can forgive you." This is not forgiveness. If the 
debt is paid there is no need for forgiveness. If 
the little boy pays for the window he does not need 
forgiveness ; if he ought to be punished, and an- 
other is punished in his place, the debt is fairly 
cancelled; there is no forgiveness. 

When we come to our heavenly Father, with 
the forgiving spirit in our heart, and look up and 
say to him, Forgive me my debts, what do we have 
in mind ? What are our debts to God ? 

Manifestly, our first debt to God is to have 
right thoughts about him. You recall the sweet 
little poem of Whittier's, "The Minister's 



144 TH E CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

Daughter." The minister had preached about the 
wrath of God resting on the human race ; that all 
were doomed, except a chosen few, to quenchless 
burning, because Adam had sinned in the garden. 
In the afternoon, the minister and his little daugh- 
ter were walking in the orchard. The trees were 
covered with apple blossoms. 

"Sweet in the fresh green meadows 

Sparrow and blackbird sung; 
Above him their tinted petals 

The blossoming orchards hung. 

"Around on the wonderful glory 

The minister looked and smiled; 
'How good is the Lord who gives us 
These gifts from his hand, my child !' " 

The little maiden, who had been thinking se- 
riously about what her father had said in the 
morning sermon, replied that she thought the 
pretty blossoms very wicked. For, if there had 
never a tree blossomed, God would still have loved 
everybody. The father hushes the child, and tells 
her that it all came about because of God's decrees, 
and that it was for God's glory man sinned ; that 
we must fear and love God whether we under- 
stand all about it or not. 



« <, 



Oh, I fear him/ said the little daughter, 
'And I try to love him, too; 

But I wish he was good and gentle, 
Kind and loving, like you/ " 



FORGIVENESS. 145 

The minister bowed his head, and thought up- 
on the words of his little daughter. Had he so 
represented God that his own heart, loving and 
human, put God to shame? He learned the les- 
son. No more did he preach the terrors of the 
law, but the love of the gospel. 

Without doubt, all of us at times sin against 
our heavenly Father by thinking wrongly of him. 
Do you ask me how one can tell when he is wrong 
in his conceptions of God ? There is, perhaps, no 
infallible test. But here is one sufficient for all 
our purposes : " He who has seen me has seen 
the Father." God is like Christ. And may I say 
that whatever is new in modern theological 
thought that pertains to our ideas of God comes 
from accepting this statement that God is like 
Christ. 

We owe it to God to have the truest thoughts 
of him. Let us dare to measure our thought of 
God by our conception of Christ. It was once be- 
lieved that a little child, unless numbered among 
the " elect/' would be lost. For generation after 
generation this was the best thought many men 
had of God. Men so bound God by their theolog- 
ical systems that, according to their thought of 
him, God was not like Christ. For centuries mul- 
titudes have believed that unless a child was bap- 
tized it would not be saved. This also made God 
unlike Christ. Infant baptism grew out of the 



146 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

belief that God was so particular about outward 
ceremonies that, unless the child was baptized, it 
would be excluded from heaven. What a mean 
and narrow thought to have of God ! 

We pray, Forgive us our debts; and well we 
may. For all of us, in some particular, some in one 
way and some in another, have small and mean 
ideas about God. Here is a person who believes 
that all of the heathen will be sent to hell. What 
a mean thought to have of our heavenly Father. 
Could you think of an earthly father doing such 
a thing? Suppose a father had two sons. One of 
them, by some misfortune, grew up without know- 
ing anything about his father, and became a rude, 
coarse, ungentlemanly boy. Now the boy comes 
into the presence of his father. What will the 
father do? Will he disown him, or will he not 
pity him, and try to make up for his misfortune 
in every way possible ? 

In many homes where there is sickness, how 
often it is laid upon God. The real cause often 
lies in the unsanitary conditions or in a disregard 
of the laws of health. Health is God's great bless- 
ing, and. if we were only wise enough, at least 
one-half of the ills of life could be averted ; and if 
our ancestors had been wise, so as to have passed 
down to us a strong and unimpaired constitution, 
we would know little about the other half of the 
infirmities of the flesh. While God's gift is health, 



FORGIVENESS. 147 

he overrules our misfortunes, and in his mercy 
lines the clouds of suffering with the cheering 
and comforting radiance of his own presence. 

Another debt that all of us owe to our heavenly 
Father is to live worthily of him. Here is a man 
who is not a Christian. I hear him using horrible 
language. " My friend/' I say to him, " you are 
using horrible language." " O, I am no Chris- 
tian," he replies; "I never joined the church." 
This is given as though it were a sufficient excuse. 
" Man," I say to him, " God is your heavenly 
Father ; whether you are a Christian or not, you 
are under obligations to live worthily of your 
Father. You cannot evade this obligation by say- 
ing you are not a Christian. As a man, God is 
your Father." What a debt this man owes to 
God! Every man ought to live worthily of his 
heavenly Father. 

But there are peculiar obligations resting upon 
the Christian. He professes to have come back to 
his heavenly Father. Those who have not turned 
about, look to the Christian to see how he will act 
under certain trying circumstances. They look 
to him to see whether he will take an advantage of 
a man when the man is in his power; whether, 
when he is elected to office, he will keep his cam- 
paign promises any better for being a Christian; 
whether he will treat his workmen better; 
whether, as a workman, he will do a better day's 



148 THE CHANGING VIEW -POINT. 

work. The Christian merchant is under special 
obligations to use honest methods in every depart- 
ment of his business. The Christian editor owes 
it to his relations to the church to publish a cleaner 
sheet than his non-Christian neighbor. The Chris- 
tian woman should keep her help longer than the 
woman who is not a Christian. The Christian 
home should be sweeter and purer because of the 
presence of Christ in each heart. The church 
should be the most absorbing organization to 
which the Christian can belong. What debts we 
Christians owe our heavenly Father, because we 
so poorly discharge our obligations ! 

As members of a church, we are under obliga- 
tions to the community to teach it a truer way of 
living. We believe that it was one of the most 
important steps in our lives when we confessed 
Christ and joined the church. We believe that 
such an action on the part of many of our friends 
would be the most important step they could take. 
But what are we doing to show that our church 
connections mean much to us, and that we deem it 
important for our friends to confess Christ and 
join the church? I fear that all of us must con- 
fess that we are doing far too little. How great 
is our debt to our heavenly Father for duties left 
undone, and for duties performed grudgingly. 



CHAPTER XL 

THE RECOVERY OF THE SOUL. 

"It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but only 
those who are ill." — Jesus. 

"Nothing annihilates the tenderness of God's heart to- 
ward his creatures." — William N. Clarke. 

"The Fatherhood of God does not in the least limit the 
sweep of retribution, but it shows that its nature is never 
vindictive, but always disciplinary." — Amory H. Bradford. 

Underlying nearly every great poem and 
work of fiction there is an attempt to set forth 
some phase of the loss, or the recovery, of the hu- 
man soul. The incidents of time and place, and 
characters, which we sometimes regard as the 
principal things in a story, are not the elements 
that give the work permanence and value; the 
work lives or dies in proportion as the author, 
with true insight, deals with the universal prob- 
lem of the loss or the recovery of the human soul. 
The oldest poem of the Greeks it not without its 
moral purpose. Intentionally or not, Homer 
sings of the power of wrong-doing to pull down 
the structure built up by many virtues. Virgil 
sets forth the wanderings of youth in a far coun- 



150 THE CHANGING VIEW-FOINT. 

try, and the later efforts to return to a safe har- 
bor. Dante, in whom many silent centuries find 
a voice, tells of the pollution and the purification 
of the human soul. Under the sublime and mas- 
terful imagery of the sightless Milton, man's 
tragic career passes through the lost and the re- 
gained experience. 

One might think that during all these centuries, 
from Homer to Milton, the theme would have 
grown old or men would have become indifferent 
to it. But it has not been so. He whose spiritual 
vision was among the clearest and the keenest of 
our own generation, in that worthiest monument 
that has ever been erected in memory of a de- 
parted friend, Tennyson speaks of the experiences 
of the human soul. In another of his great poems, 
he tells of the loss of the soul's splendor through 
error, and of the divine Friend who toils cease- 
lessly for its recovery. 

The recovery of the human soul — do not these 
words recall to our minds the saying of Jesus, " It 
is not those who are w T ell who need a doctor, but 
only those who are ill? " 

Does Jesus imply in these words that there are 
those who do not need the physician of souls ? 
Not at all. The Pharisees had found fault with 
him for associating with publicans and sinners, 
thinking if Jesus were a true teacher of religion 
he would have preferred their company — the com- 



THE RECOVERY OF THE SOUL. 151 

pany of people who were in good standing relig- 
iously. Jesus replies in substance: You think 
you have no spiritual disease — you do not need 
me; do not find fault with me if I go where I am 
needed ; for a doctor does not attend to well peo- 
ple ; it is only the sick that need him. 

There are two attitudes, either of which we 
may take toward a person whose life is morally 
sick : the attitude of censure and condemnation, 
or of compassion and helpfulness. The Pharisees 
were especially careful to guard against coming in 
contact with those who were not in good standing. 
They were severe in condemning those who did 
not live according to their standard. The tax- 
gatherers and the godless — what had they to do 
with these people? They were satisfied if they 
could escape all contact with them ; they thanked 
God daily that they were not as other men. 

Such an attitude on the part of the Pharisees 
and Rabbis called down the severe denunciation of 
Jesus. They were blind guides, who neither en- 
tered the kingdom of righteousness themselves nor 
permitted others to enter. From their view-point 
Jesus could not be understood. He not only did 
not keep their religious observances; he even 
chose to associate with persons of known irrelig- 
ious and immoral character. Jesus thought of such 
people as sick and in need of a physician. He had 
compassion on them. As the Founder of Chris- 



152 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

tianity, Christ expressed in every way possible his 
profound belief in the innate ability of the human 
soul to live the life of goodness : he lived and suf- 
ferred, and died to awaken man to live such a 
life. He believed that the spiritual life of man, 
though scarred, polluted, debased and turned, 
both by inherited tendencies and unfortunate sur- 
roundings, to low and unworthy views and prac- 
tices, nevertheless was not beyond recall to a life 
of righteousness. 

Let us note what was back of such a conviction ; 
what it was that enabled Jesus to have such in- 
comparable faith in the power of the human soul 
to recover from evil. 

One thing back of this conviction of Jesus was 
his belief in God's relation to man. Here, as 
everywhere, Jesus came to fulfil and not to de- 
stroy. He took the Jewish conception of God, and 
filled it full with a larger meaning. In the early 
Hebrew thought about God, the Deity was a 
leader in battle, one who gave them victory if they 
had his good will, and who gave defeat if they had 
gained his displeasure. He was their God, their 
national protector and benefactor. In their 
thought, God was limited to the nation of Israel; 
other nations and peoples had their own national 
and tribal deities. If, in battle, the army of Israel 
triumphed, the people extolled the power and 
might of Jehovah. But Jehovah did not always 



THE RECOVERY OF THE SOUL. 153 

grant them victory : then the people believed that 
the cause was not in Jehovah's lack of power, but 
that he was displeased with them. 

We cannot get back to the origin of sacrifices ; 
they exist, in one form or another, as far back as 
we have any trace of the religious practices of 
man. In some form they are found in the earliest 
Hebrew history. But we do not need to find the 
time of their origin in order to understand them. 
God was displeased, something must be done to 
win his favor ; or, the Deity might be displeased, 
and something must be done to prevent such a 
calamity. And, as children now think of God as 
a big man, with unlimited power, so, in*the child- 
hood of the race, men thought of God in terms of 
their own being ; and especially in physical terms, 
because man was more conscious of his physical 
than of his spiritual nature. We might say that 
man can understand God only as man understands 
himself. If man's spiritual nature lies dormant 
and unawakened, if he knows himself only as a 
physical being, his conception of God will be a pro- 
jection of himself, enlarged, exalted, powerful, 
but essentially like himself, with the same or sim- 
ilar needs. The farther back we go in our study 
of man, the larger and relatively more important 
becomes man's need for food. In his earliest his- 
tory, the need for food was the conscious need of 
man's life. 



154 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

So, in attempting to keep or win the favor of 
the higher Powers, man gave that which he valued 
most, which was most essential to his own exist- 
ence — fruits and meats. 

This was very well so long as it expressed the 
highest conscious need of man. It was the best 
that he could do; it was his highest form of 
worship. 

A time came, however, when man began to 
grow conscious of a life within which was not 
the physical, and of needs hitherto unknown. In 
the Hebrew nation this spiritual development ap- 
pears first among the prophets. And from the be- 
ginning of the prophets to the time of Jesus there 
was a conflict between the prophets and the 
priests; for they stood for two different concep- 
tions of life. The priests stood for the physical 
conception of life. In the beginning every man 
offered his own sacrifices, the same as in the be- 
ginning of Christianity every Christian might 
administer the ordinances of the church. And, 
as a class soon came into existence in the church 
to whom these duties were left, the clergy; so 
there grew up in the early history of the nation of 
Israel a class whose special function it was to offer 
sacrifices and attend to the national requirements 
of religion. This class was the priesthood. 
The nation at large left their sacrifices 
to be offered by them. On special occasions 



THE RECOVERY OF THE SOUL. 155 

and at stated times a large part of the nation went 
up to Jerusalem to worship. They either carried 
fruit, grain or animals, or bought these at Jerusa- 
lem, and gave them to the priests, to be offered to 
Jehovah. As the people advanced, the idea of 
thanksgiving entered into their worship. They 
desired not only to win the favor of Jehovah ; the 
higher feelings of gratitude and thanksgiving 
were also expressed. 

But with the rise of prophetism the nation was 
called to a higher form of worship. The prophets 
were men who had become conscious of a life 
higher than the physical, and of needs deeper and 
truer than the needs of the body. Consequently 
they were possessed with a higher conception of 
God. Their message, in part at least, was this: 
Jehovah does not care so much for your sacrifices 
as for your attitude of heart and mind toward 
him. The people had advanced beyond their 
earlier conceptions of life, and their worship was 
not in keeping with their knowledge. So this new 
call of the prophets, disturbing as it did age-long 
customs and practices, found slow response among 
the people. Nevertheless it was their mission to 
point out the higher and the better way. Seeing 
the evil about him in national and in private life, 
the prophet cries out, " Will the Lord be pleased 
with thousands of rams? . . . What doth 
the Lord require of thee but to do justly and love 



156 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

mercy, and walk humbly with thy God ? . . . 
The rich men .... are full of violence, 
and the inhabitants .... have spoken lies, 
and their tongue is decitful in their mouth." An- 
other prophet, seeing his nation cling to practices 
that were no longer expressive of true worship, 
calls out to the people, telling them to listen to the 
word of the Lord, " To what purpose is the mul- 
titude of your sacrifices unto me ? . . . I am 
full of burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed 
beasts ; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, 
or of lambs, or of he goats. When ye come to 
appear before me, who hath required this at your 
hand?" 

The prophet is speaking forth the message that 
possesses him ; he speaks in the name of Jehovah, 
and tells the people that they have outgrown such 
forms of worship. Hear his appeal to them as he 
urges his countrymen to give heed to things that 
are deeper than any outward performance, 
" Wash you, make you clean ; put away the evil 
of your doings .... cease to do evil; 
learn to do well; seek judgment; relieve the op- 
pressed; judge the fatherless and plead for the 
widow." Each one of these exhortations shows 
what kind of sins were prevalent. Man was grow- 
ing into knowledge and power, but was not chang- 
ing his worship so as to express his growing in- 
ner life. The priests sought to perpetrate the 



THE RECOVERY OF THE SOUL. 157 

worship that no longer expressed the knowledge 
and the needs of the people ; the prophets sought 
to instruct the nation and to win the people to a 
more spiritual worship. 

Jesus built upon the foundation laid by the 
prophets. They had called man to a spiritual wor- 
ship; Jesus took their conception of God, and 
filled it full of a new meaning. He taught men to 
call God by the endearing name of Father. When 
one of his disciples asked him to show them the 
Father Jesus replied that he had been doing that 
very thing all along, every day. As an only be- 
gotten son of one of your neighbors would make 
known the character of his father, so I have been 
making known the character of God to you. You 
strive and toil in order to give your children food 
and raiment — God is more willing than any 
earthly parent to give you his best gifts. In so far 
as you can receive them, he sends his gifts to all 
alike — he sends his sunshine and the rain to the 
disobedient as well as to the obedient. He is your 
Father and loves you, and nothing that you can 
do can change his love. Listen while I tell you 
a story. One time there was a man who had a 
hundred sheep. It so happened that on a certain 
night, when he was putting them in the sheep- 
fold, he noticed that one was missing. Leaving 
the flock, the shepherd went out and searched 
through the dark and dangerous places until he 



i 5 8 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

found the sheep that had strayed away. God is 
just like that shepherd. 

My friends, one of the deepest needs of our lives 
this moment is to open our hearts to receive what 
Jesus says about God. Each of us either have 
been, or are now, like that sheep which strayed 
away. What does Jesus say ? The shepherd went 
out and searched and found the sheep and 
brought it back. O, that we could understand the 
love of God! It is a love that seeks. Has it 
found you ? Has it brought you back to the fold ? 

The church exists to perpetuate and carry on 
the work that Jesus Christ began while here on 
earth. The Christian is the one who is repro- 
ducing, living again, in some worthy measure, the 
life of God among men. Jesus said : a Iam the 
light of the world. He that follows me shall not 
walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." 
But he also said : " You are the light of the 
world. Let your light shine." One day Jesus' 
mother and his brothers came up, and, standing 
outside, sent to ask him to come to them. There 
was a crowd sitting round him, and they said to 
him: 

" Look, your mother and your brothers are out- 
side, asking for you." 

" Who is my mother and my brothers? " was 
his reply. Then, having looked round on the peo- 
ple sitting in a circle round him, he said : 



THE RECOVERY OF THE SOUL. 



1 S9 



" Here are my mother and my brothers ! Who- 
soever does the will of God is my brother and sis- 
ter and mother." Jesus believed that this was the 
life that man should live. That it was possible for 
every man to recover from a life of evil and wick- 
edness; for inherent and fundamental in every 
human life is a divine relation : God is his Father. 
Jesus pleaded with men to believe this. And this 
is one of the functions of the church to-day — to 
plead with men to believe that God is their Father ; 
that he is anxious to have all of his children live 
worthy and noble lives ; that though man may de- 
grade himself, and sink to the level of, or even 
below the level of, the beasts of the field, yet he is 
not beyond the reach of the love of God. God is 
man's Father, and nothing that the child can do 
can destroy or annul the fact of fatherhood. But 
it does lie in our power, in the power of each one 
of us, to live worthily of our divine relation or not. 
Moral worth and the highest excellence comes to 
us through the fact that even though it is possible 
for us to live a life that is mean and low, we may 
choose to live the life that accords with all that we 
know of God, our heavenly Father. 

That masterpiece of fiction, which literary 
critics place at the head of the list when they enu- 
merate the great novels of the world, has for its 
theme this divine relation of man. The author is 
a profound student of the shadows and darkness 



i Go THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

of life. But the shadow and the darkness are not 
all that he sees, though there are many writers 
who portray only the dark side of life — its misery 
and its degradation. But this author selects a man 
who is outrageously treated by the civil author- 
ities — sentenced to five years at the galleys for 
stealing a loaf of bread, to satisfy the hunger of 
his widowed sister's children. For ten years he 
had worked as a wood-chopper, to earn bread for 
these seven fatherless children. Being now out of 
work, and unable to bear the cry of the children 
for bread, he breaks the glass at a baker's window, 
and carries a loaf to the hungry children. 
Though he confessed his crime the next morning, 
he was sentenced to five years of hard labor as a 
galley slave. 

You know the story — he tried to escape four 
times, and each attempt added to his sentence. 
After nineteen years he was released, and started 
for his old home. Night came on, but neither the 
inn-keeper nor any man would share with him a 
meal. The heel of society was placed on his neck. 
He was a convict, an outcast. His unjust treat- 
ment at the hands of the officials of the law, his 
nineteen years of contact with hardened criminals, 
his inhumane treatment at the galleys, had trans- 
formed the kind-hearted youth into a man whose 
hard thoughts had hardened, and almost dehu- 
manized the once kindly face. How will such a 



THE RECOVERY OF THE SOUL. 161 

life terminate ? Can it every recover ? Time fails 
me to outline the story. But this convict meets a 
man who has confidence in his power to recover 
from this hardened and degraded condition. This 
man's confidence in him awoke the hope that he 
might again be a man. He cannot get away from 
the words and the inspiration of the bishop. But 
what a struggle lies before him ! No other pen has 
so masterfully portrayed what Victor Hugo sets 
forth in " Les Miserables." He builds, as Jesus 
did, upon the inherent ability of the human soul 
to respond to the transforming touch of goodness. 
One of the great needs of the world to-day is 
for men and women who inspire others to believe 
in the reality of goodness, and who " evoke from 
others all the finer qualities and reinforce all their 
higher convictions." As followers of Christ we 
are called to so live that we, too, shall awaken any 
blinder or less fortunate souls to walk in the light 
of life. Let us strive for that spiritual insight 
which w T ill enable us to see the divine in the breast 
of every man. 

"Through sins of sense, perversities of will, 
Through doubt and pain, through guilt and shame and ill, 
Thy pitying eye is on thy creature still." 

"Father of all! . . . Thy erring child may be 
Lost to himself, but never lost to thee/' 



162 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

"And gently, by a thousand things 

Which o'er our spirits pass, 
Like breezes o'er the harp's fine strings, 

Or vapors o'er a glass, 
Leaving their tokens strange and new 

Of music or of shade, 
The summons to the right and true 

And merciful is made." 

This summons God is making to each of us, day 
by day. 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE HEAVENLY FATHER: OR, GOD'S RELATION TO 

MAN. 

"Our Father which art in heaven." — Jesus. 

"The truest name for God in relation to his creatures is 
Father." — William N. Clarke. 

"In the ideal human fatherhood we have the clearest 
conception of Deity which it is possible for man to under- 
stand." — Amory H. Bradford. 

Not unfrequently, in large orchestras, there 
are musicians of various nationalities, French, 
German, Hungarian, Russian, or Italian, sitting 
side by side. Before the music begins they are 
unable to speak one another's language. This, 
however, is only an incidental barrier ; for as soon 
as the music begins, they speak to one another in 
a universal language which appeals to every hu- 
man heart, as they interpret the emotions of joy 
and sorrow, hatred and love. 

So there is a universal language in pictures. 
The Angelus tells its pathetic story to multitudes 
who could not read it if written in a single lan- 
guage of words. 

For the most part our Saviour taught in a uni- 



1 64 THE CHANGING VIEW -POINT. 

versal language. Here it is the shepherd after his 
sheep ; here, the woman after her coin ; the farmer 
sowing grain into various kinds of soil ; the yeast 
in the meal ; the new wine in old bottles ; the sick 
man by the roadside; the beggar at the rich man's 
gate; the true father receiving with loving wel- 
come the son who had wasted his living. These 
word pictures speak to us in a universal language. 

Jesus wishes to teach his disciples about God. 
He is wiser than the Rabbis, who attempt to set 
forth the character of God in abstract terms. He 
calls to his aid the tender relations of the home; 
he presents a cameo in bas-relief in which he in- 
terprets and unfolds his own idea of God ; he bids 
his disciples think of God as their heavenly 
Father. 

The conception of Jesus, that God is man's 
heavenly Father, implies a relationship between 
God and man. Is this relationship natural or ac- 
quired ? Is it universal, or restricted to a certain 
privileged class ? In other words, who has a right, 
according to the teaching of Jesus, to call God 
Father ? 

For our present purpose, we may classify all 
people as Christians, little children, and non- 
Christians. What is God's relation to each of 
these classes ? 

Surely, if to any one God is the heavenly 
Father, it is to the Christian. By a Christian is 



THE HEAVENLY FATHER. 165 

not meant, of course, a person free from faults or 
even free from sin. The term includes all who 
are learners of Christ, whether they have ad- 
vanced far or little in the school of the Master. 
In teaching his disciples to say " Our Father/' 
Christ addressed Peter who afterward denied his 
Lord; and John, who wanted to call down fire 
from heaven and consume a whole village of peo- 
ple because they would not receive his Master; 
and James, who wanted one of the first places in 
the new kingdom. If we knew the other disciples 
better, it is quite probable that they were as im- 
perfect as the ones we know best. 

Yet Christ taught these men to look up and call 
God their heavenly Father. These men were 
learners of Christ ; they w r ere often slow of heart 
and dull of comprehension, often sinful and un- 
worthy. But God was their Father. It is the 
same to-day. As learners in the school of Christ, 
we are often unworthy of our Master ; we fall be- 
fore temptations; we deny our Lord at times; 
still Christ would teach us to say " Our Father." 

But is God the Father only to the Christian? 
Before we reply, let me draw the curtain from one 
of the most heavenly sights that earth affords. 
The shadows of night are beginning to fall. The 
mother bird gathers her young under her pro- 
tecting wing. In the cottage, the supper is over, 
and two little children are kneeling at their 



1 66 THE CHANGING VIEW -POINT. 

mother's side, and she is teaching them to pray. 
Without attempting to listen, we catch the words 
lisped after the mother; they are, " Our Father, 
who art in heaven." All her mother-instinct im- 
pels her to teach her children to say " Our 
Father. " She does not stop to think whether they 
are among the number of the " elect " or not. She 
knows nothing of that system of doctrine called 
Christian, but which would make all children not 
" elect" sure candidates for destruction ; she has 
never heard of that pre-Reformation theology 
which regards a child lost if it has not been bap- 
tized. This mother is simple and untaught. She 
has read the Bible some and has found peace and 
forgiveness by believing in Jesus Christ. Jesus 
is her Master and Lord. She knows that he took 
up little children in his arms and blessed them, 
and said, " Of such is the kingdom of heaven." 
Surely, nothing is truer than this mothers in- 
stinct which prompts her to teach her children to 
say, " Our Father." 

We may say, then, that it is right for Christians 
to call God " Our Father," and for mothers to 
teach their little ones nestling at their knees to 
say "Our Father " ; but how about the great num- 
ber of people who are neither Christians and who 
are no longer children? Is God their Father? 

The little boy grows to be a young man, and 
becomes indifferent to religion, gets into bad 



THE HEAVENLY FATHER. 167 

company and sorely tries his mother's heart. 
Partly because his associates are irreligious, and 
partly because religion, in his mind, is merely a 
preparation for heaven which he can attend to 
any time before he dies, he begins sowing his 
" wild oats/' He will enjoy himself while he is 
young; of course, it is his intention to settle down 
and join the church by and by. 

His employment takes him to a distant city. 
He soon finds his " set." They show him about. 
They take a certain pride in initiating him into 
all forms of dissipation. He spends his wages 
in gambling and for drink. Other cups of dis- 
sipation and vice are drained to the dregs. He 
loses his position, becomes without money and 
without friends. 

What shall we say about this young man who 
has so sinned against his mother's love? Does 
the mother love him any less? Only you who 
have never heard a mother pray for her erring 
boy can answer that she loves him less for hav- 
ing wandered away in the paths of sin. He 
writes to her no more ; but she hears occasionally 
of his sad and sinful doings. How she suffers! 
What would she not give to receive a letter from 
him and see again at the top, the words : " Dear 
Mother! " Nothing would cause her greater joy. 
How she longs to hold him once more to her 
heart. 



168 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT, 

The young man gets sick and is taken to the 
hospital. Here he has time to think; and like 
another young man he also came to himself. He 
resolves to go back to his mother. She receives 
him with open arms; her son who had been lost 
is found, who had been worse than dead to her is 
alive again. And if a mother knows how to 
treat an erring child, how much more the heav- 
enly Father! 

When viewed in the light of Christ's teaching 
and interpreted by the tenderest relations of the 
human heart, there can be no doubt as to the re- 
lation that God bears to the wanderer in sin. God 
is his heavenly Father, loving him and suffering 
for his sin. The young man is his son; but a 
son who has persisted in dishonoring his Father, 
in destroying his manhood, and in defeating his 
destiny. God is the Father of sinners, and the 
great and terrible thing about sin is that sin is 
rebellion against a loving Father's heart. 

The mother taught the little boy to say " Our 
Father.' ' And in doing this she obeyed the most 
commanding impulses of a mother heart. Surely 
God is the heavenly father of her innocent babe. 
Mothers have been terrorized into believing that 
unless their babies were baptized or of the num- 
ber of the " elect," they were fit only for eternal 
damnation ; that they must suffer eternal punish- 
ment for their sins committed in Adam. But no 



THE HEAVENLY FATHER. 169 

mother whose religious ideas grew up out of the 
Bible ever believed such things true of her little 
babe. 

If, then, innocent little children may call God 
Father, if the same person when a man and a 
Christian may call God Father, is not God the 
Father of the young man while he is living in 
dissipation and sin? Christ's parable of the true 
father, miscalled the parable of the prodigal son, 
teaches that fatherhood cannot be set aside by the 
sin of the child. 

Let us see what this means. Man as man is, 
in a certain sense, the child of God; in that God 
is his heavenly Father. As an innocent little babe 
he lisps, after his mother, the words, " Our 
Father." But as he becomes older, it rests with 
him whether he will honor or dishonor his Father. 
If he acknowledges God as his Father and lives 
to his honor, he becomes a Christian ; if he turns 
from God and destroys in part or wholly, his pos- 
sibilities of growing into the image of his heav- 
enly Father, he may become dead to God, but God 
can never change his relation to him. 

Would it not be better if God did not permit 
man to wander away from him? Undoubtedly 
all of us at times have thought so. But if the 
heavenly Father did this, man would be only a 
machine. Integrity and strength of character 
come by doing right when it is possible to do 



i 7 o THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

wrong. There is no other way for character to 
be developed. We may rest assured if there had 
been another way, God would have adopted it. 

Let us not forget that God has safe-guarded 
man as much as a loving Father possibly could, 
without interfering with man's freedom. He 
makes it hard for man to go astray; he makes 
every wrong act to be followed by remorse and 
pain. These are the Father's barriers, his warn- 
ing messengers, saying : This is not the way ; de- 
struction and death lie at the end of this path. 
And along the path of right action sign boards 
are placed every little way pointing the traveller 
toward peace, strength, character. God's lan- 
guage is a universal language which all may read, 
whether we art travelling toward him or away 
from him. 

The Christian may say " Our Father " ; the 
mother may teach her little child to say " Our 
Father," and we know God is pleased. But his 
joy is quite as great when the wanderer, tired 
and sore, sick at heart and full of shame and re- 
morse, comes to himself and cries, Father, I am 
no longer worthy to be thy son. May some wan- 
derer come back to his Father to-day. Christ is 
the way from sin to righteousness and fellowship 
with the Father. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

REALIZING DIVINE SONSHIP; OR MAN'S RELATION 
TO GOD. 

"Thy will be done."-— Jesus. 

"But all children of God do not equally recognize their 
sonship." — Amory H. Bradford. 

"The Christian peonle have found the secret of life, in 
finding themselves sons of God.'' — William N. Clarke. 

It is a serious moment when the individual 
asks himself, What is life for? To what end shall 
I bend all my energy? For what shall I strive? 
It is the function of religion to help the individual 
answer wisely this very question. 

The highest and wisest answer that experience, 
guided by religion, has ever given, is that a hu- 
man life finds its truest end in the realization of 
its own possibilities; and the possibilities of life in 
character find their full and complete expression 
only in the Son of Man, who so lived that human 
nature and perfect sonship to God meant the 
same thing. The life of Christ measures the pos- 
sibilities of human nature for goodness, when 
carried to its highest power. Man is created po- 
tentially a son of God; just the same as the infant 



172 THE CHANGING VIEW -POINT. 

is potentially a scholar. The little babe grows 
and the undeveloped possibilities become realized 
one by one as the child passes through the schools 
and the experiences of life. After some years he 
is spoken of as an educated man. From the 
standpoint of education, he has realized, to some 
worthy degree, his possibilities. 

But it was within his power to neglect or even 
misuse his intellectual possibilities. His nature 
finds its natural expression in the development of 
his mental faculties; this development, however, 
is not something added to the man; it is rather 
the normal realization of his own being. But in 
securing this development he had to pass through 
a certain course of discipline. Had he ignored 
all means of education, had he closed his mind to 
all stimulating and helpful impulses, had he per- 
sistently and wilfully rejected the assistance of 
his parents and the opportunities afforded by the 
state, the child would never have become an edu- 
cated man. He possessed the possibilities; but 
they had never become actual. 

May we not say that man's relation to his heav- 
enly Father is somewhat similar? Man is cre- 
ated with the possibilities of a son of God. But 
the divine sonship in reality consists in, quality 
of spirit. The plant unfolds according to the 
laws of its being or nature; the planets move 
majestically through unbounded space in answer 



REALIZING DIVINE SON SHIP. 173 

to the inherent power of mutual attraction; the 
bird builds its nest without having learned; the 
bee constructs its storage rooms with the mathe- 
matical precision of an expert, and yet it was 
never taught; the carrier pigeon finds its way 
without compass or chart. These are governed 
by laws and instincts. To man alone the Creator 
has given the pow r er to choose. And quality of 
spirit comes from the exercise of the power of 
choice. 

It is of first importance, therefore, that man 
have some principle to guide him ; some regula- 
tive, governing, controlling principle which shall 
enable him to choose wisely. What shall this 
principle be? 

In the history of human thinking, various 
principles have been suggested. Prominent 
among these may be mentioned the principles of 
happiness and of self-repression. Multitudes 
have tried to realize the true end of life by mak- 
ing happiness the dominant principle in all their 
choices; others have sought with a nobler inten- 
sity to find the true end of living by self-repres- 
sion. There is another principle; it is the prin- 
ciple of Christ's life, surprisingly natural and 
simple. He said : " I seek not mine own will, but 
the will of him that sent me." He lived to 
do God's will. And in the model prayer he 
teaches his disciples to pray that the will of the 



174 THE CHANGING VIEW -POINT. 

heavenly Father might become the governing 
principle of all their activity; that it might be 
done among them even as it is done in the heav- 
enly realm. 

Frequently, Christianity is so presented that its 
main object seems to be to fit men for the future 
life. The impression is created that the religious 
life is not natural, is something added to the nor- 
mal man. This conception prevails not only 
among a vast number who are not Christians, 
but also among many who are Christians. By 
refraining from the joys and pleasures of the 
world, the happiness of the future life is assured, 
it is believed. 

But this presentation of Christianity is mani- 
festly inadequate. More and more it is failing in 
its appeal to thoughtful men and women. There 
is a principle which enters into all human choices, 
which influences the individual to decide for a 
present rather than for a future good. The ap- 
peal of the present is so strong that very few re- 
sist it. Indeed, how many sacrifice future good 
to present pleasures! Consequently, it is not 
hard to understand how Christianity does not 
command the acceptance of a large number of 
intelligent people when it is interpreted as a 
means of escaping future punishment or of se- 
curing future happiness. Keep a people from 
thinking and they may be terrorized into believ- 



REALIZING DIVINE SON SHIP. 175 

ing almost anything. The history of the church 
before the Reformation is abundant proof of this 
statement. But it is a tribute to the intelligence 
and the independent thinking of the people where 
doctrines that are unreasonable fail to command 
assent. 

And this failure of many doctrines of Chris- 
tianity to command assent has compelled, from 
time to time, a restatement of the fundamental 
realities of the religious experience. These re- 
statements have marked great epochs in the his- 
tory of the church. At the present time, Prot- 
estant Christianity is in the midst of a transition 
period. The interpretation of Christianity as the 
acceptance of a set of doctrines is passing away ; 
that religion is confined only to a certain depart- 
ment of human interests, is less and less satis- 
fying. The conviction that religion is natural 
to man, and irreligion unnatural ; that religion is 
not doctrines but life; that human life here and 
now needs a unifying and governing principle 
and that the highest principle known to man is 
the will of God, takes man into a new atmosphere. 
No longer will he think of religion as a device 
for getting into heaven; it is rather a means of 
realizing now the higher and nobler possibilities 
of his own nature. 

Placed on this basis, Christianity has the 
strongest possible appeal to thoughtful men and 



176 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

women. For the clearer and stronger the intel- 
lect, and the more opportunities opened, man 
feels the greater need of a principle, commanding 
and unifying all the interests of life. To become 
in this life all that it is possible for one to become 
is a worthy ambition. What principle does Chris- 
tianity offer which will aid man in realizing the 
higher possibilities of his own nature? The an- 
swer is found in the petition : " Thy will be done, 
as in heaven, so on earth." 

The will of God is sometimes thought of as 
something that is to be endured. It is connected 
only with the afflictions and trials of existence. 
This surely is not the thought of Jesus when he 
says : " My meat is to do the will of him that sent 
me." Anything that is conducive to the well- 
being of man is the will of God. The laws of 
health are but another term for the will of God 
concerning our physical well-being. As man 
conforms to the laws of health, he is obeying the 
will of God. Intemperance is a sin against God 
because it tends to destroy man's health. Any- 
thing that hinders a man from attaining to the 
realization of his physical possibilities is a sin ; it 
is a sin against his health and against God. 

The laws of nature are the will of God. Every 
discovery in natural science is an addition to our 
knowledge of how God acts, of what is his will 



REALIZING DIVINE SON SHIP. 177 

For all such knowledge Christians should be de- 
voutly grateful. 

But as responsible beings under the necessity 
of making choices and decisions, we are chiefly 
concerned with God's will as it relates to charac- 
ter and conduct. Experience speaks in no uncer- 
tain tone when we are told that God's will is the 
wisest and the truest principle that can be ac- 
cepted for the regulation of human conduct 

Furthermore, Christ says : " Not every one 
that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the 
kingdom of heaven ; but he that doeth the will of 
my Father who is in heaven/ ' Not profession, 
but life, is what counts. Let us not be afraid to 
repeat the words of Christ, that he who does the 
will of God shall enter the kingdom of heaven. 
He who makes God's will the governing prin- 
ciple of his life transforms the possibilities of 
divine sonship into a reality. 

But is not Christ set aside ? If man is saved by 
doing God's will, how is Christ our Saviour? 
Christ is our Saviour in the most real and the 
most vital manner. He makes known the will of 
God in terms that all can understand ; in the uni- 
versal terms of character and conduct. From one 
view-point, the saving work of Christ is to make 
known the will of God. But this is only a part. 
Man needs not only to know the right; he needs 
commanding motives to do it. Human nature 



178 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

knows no more commanding motive than per- 
sonal affection. And the life of Jesus was such 
that multitudes have made him a personal friend. 
He binds our hearts to him with ties strong and 
tender. Loyalty and devotion to Jesus Christ 
supply the strongest motive for right doing that 
is known in history. Thousands of individuals 
have gone to the martyr's stake rather than re- 
nounce their loyalty to Christ by doing what they 
believed was wrong. This same loyalty is be- 
gotten in a vast multitude which increases in each 
succeeding generation. 

Christ saves us from our sins. He came into 
the world, suffered and died to save us from our 
sins. Sin is that which tends to destroy man. 
It keeps man from realizing his divine sonship. 
If persisted in, sin develops in man a quality of 
spirit that is the exact opposite to the filial spirit, 
the spirit of sonship to God. The soul is lost be- 
cause the possibilities of divine sonship have 
never been realized. What a terrible thing to be 
separated from God ! Christ saves men by reveal- 
ing the will of God to him in terms of character 
and conduct, and by enabling man to make the 
will of God the unifying and controlling prin- 
ciple of his life. 

The realization of divine sonship is a gradual 
accomplishment. God is doing all he can at all 
times to bring this about in all men. In the expe- 



REALIZING DIVINE SON SHIP. i 79 

rience of some the spiritual life is early and nat- 
urally awakened, and the whole life turns to God 
as the flower turns unbidden toward the sun. 
Most experiences, however, are not so. In addi- 
tion to the selfish and pernicious tendencies trans- 
mitted from generation to generation, the imita- 
tive powers of the child make its own, not only 
the language of its associates, but also their 
morals Life is entered into without a unifying, 
commanding principle to aid in its choices and 
decisions. In the absence of a guiding principle, 
impulse, appetite, passion, sway the individual 
hither and thither. Habits are contracted which 
bind him in bonds stronger than chains 
of steel to practices which are self-destroying. 
Instead of realizing his possibilities, he squanders 
them. He goes through life with his back toward 
his heavenly Father; day by day he walks in the 
wrong direction. The end of such a life is eter- 
nal separation from God, which is eternal death. 
What is the most sensible thing for a man to 
do when he finds that he is walking in the wrong 
direction? Surely, it is to turn about. This is 
conversion; the man is influenced by the Holy 
Spirit striving in his own heart, and perhaps by 
other means. He sees that he is defeating every 
higher possibility of his nature. He comes to 
himself; turns about, starts toward his Father's 
house. Henceforth his Father's will shall be the 



180 THE CHANGING VIEW -POINT. 

governing principle in all his choices and de- 
cisions. How much better to have chosen the 
Father's will early in life ! So many scars of the 
old life remain. But if we have started in the 
wrong direction, certainly the wisest thing is to 
stop, turn about, just where we are. God so 
loved the world that he gave his only begotten 
Son that whoever was going in the wrong direc- 
tion might believe on him and thus have power 
to turn about and make the Father's will the gov- 
erning principle of his life. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE EXAMPLE OF JESUS. 

"I am the Way."— Jesus. 

"No man is reconciled to God except as he does come to 
think and to feel essentially with Christ." — William N. 
Clarke. 

"The greater the difficulty, the greater the glory to him 
that overcomteth." — William DeWitt Hyde. 

A friend of mine, a clergyman, living near 
the University of Chicago, has four children in 
his family, two of whom are twins, named Henry 
and Elizabeth, from two to three years old. One 
day, while these little folks were playing on the 
lawn at the side of the house, the nurse girl left 
them for a few moments, or at least it seemed 
to her only a few moments, and when she re- 
turned the little girl could not be found. Little 
Henry sat in the drive playing in the sand. He 
did not know where his sister had gone ; perhaps 
into the house. A thorough search was made 
through kitchen, dining-room, library, parlor, 
hallway, and in the nursery, the bath-room, the 
bedrooms and even in the father's study. But 
no little girl could be found. Perhaps she had 



182 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

gotten into the basement, into the laundry or in 
the coal-bin? The search was fruitless; she was 
not there. 

After all this had been done, and room after 
room searched time after time, the fear took pos- 
session of the parents' heart that the litle girl had 
either been kidnapped or that she had strayed up 
or down the street. The father went one way, 
the mother another; and the nurse girl and neigh- 
bors went in various directions; and the police 
were notified that a child was lost. 

Every few minutes one of the searchers would 
return to the house to see if the child had not 
been found ; then return again to the search with 
renewed energy. Finally, after nearly an hour 
of agony, the little girl was found several blocks 
from home, down on Fifty-fifth street, hurrying 
along from shop window to shop window as fast 
as her little feet could carry her through the busy 
street. One of the searchers found her and 
brought her back to her papa's home. What re- 
joicing there was when the father and mother 
folded the little tot in their arms! 

This, in earthly terms, represents what is go- 
ing on in the family of our heavenly Father. 
Here and there the spiritual life of the child opens 
naturally toward God, under the warm and tender 
teaching of Christian parents. Its ancestry for 
generation after generation has passed on tenden- 



THE EXAMPLE OF JESUS. 183 

cies that make for righteousness and reach out 
toward the heavenly Father. This is the goal 
toward which humanity is pressing: this is the 
prize within the reach of the race ; this is in keep- 
ing with the scripture that says God visits the 
iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon 
the third and upon the fourth generation of them 
that hate him; but shows mercy upon the thou- 
sandth generation of them that love him and keep 
his commandments. But thus far in the upward 
climb of the race, this is the experience of the 
very few. We do not turn to God naturally, for 
our natures come to us freighted with tendencies 
fostered and developed through countless genera- 
tions, which are not our blessing but our burden. 
We, like the little girl, are lost, in that we are 
not living in our Father's house. 

But what did the father do when the little 
daughter strayed from his home? If you know 
how to care for your children, how much more 
your heavenly Father ! Every effort possible will 
be made to bring us where we have a right to be. 

Jesus came into the midst of humanity and pro- 
claimed it as his mission to lead the lost to their 
Father's house. He looked with clear vision into 
man's heart and saw what man needed most, and 
to this he gave his life. Man needed to have it 
made very plain to him that God was his Father ; 
for man's idea of God underlies all of his other 



1 84 THE CHANGING VIEW-MINT. 

conceptions of life. Jesus took his place among 
common men and lived as if God were his Father, 
lived as a Son of God would be expected to live. 

Then, coming to realize his divine mission, 
that the Father had chosen him to be the Saviour 
of the world, Jesus placed himself in the nearest 
of relations to men and said to them : "I am 
the Way." What should this little sentence, the 
utterance of a breath, composed of very simple 
words, mean to us? To me it means the whole 
philosophy of right living; it is the thing that 
men most need to know; it sums up, so far as 
words can summarize, all that Christ ever said 
and did. It is so simple and at the same time so 
profound. I wish it were possible for me to un- 
fold its meaning as it possesses my own mind. 
But spiritual realities cannot be set forth fully in 
words; they can be known only as they are ex- 
perienced. However, we may talk about them, 
even if what we say but poorly expresses what 
we all have felt. 

In unfolding this statement of Jesus, the first 
obvious thought is that we are to live as he lived. 
His life is our example; his spirit is to dwell 
within us ; we are to abide in him. At times the 
world has lost sight of the example of Christ, 
being so busy in constructing theories of his na- 
ture and of his work in the world. Wars have 
been fought where the issue was whether the laity 



THE EXAMPLE OP JESUS. 185 

should have in communion only the bread or both 
the bread and the wine; and on one occasion, 
when the more liberal party gained the victory, 
the communion cup was carried on a pole through 
the army as a trophy of their triumph. Men 
have refused to recognize each other as brethren 
because one held that the prayer of consecration 
changed the bread and wine into the actual body 
and blood of Christ, while the other did not so 
believe. Great bodies of Christians have been 
rent by violent discussion over the subject 
whether Christ had one will and two natures, or 
two wills and one nature. And to-day a body of 
Christians whose lives show forth as much of the 
real spirit of Christ as perhaps any other body of 
Christians, is deprived almost of the name "Chris- 
tian " because we will not understand what they 
believe and fail to see the Christ spirit in so many 
of their lives. Not he who says, Lord, Lord, 
shall enter the kingdom ; but he who has the spirit 
of Christ in his life. 

The example of Christ will lead us to a life of 
loyalty. He came to make known to mankind the 
character of God, to tell us that God is our Father, 
and to teach us how a son should live. No one 
was ever so sorely tempted to swerve from his 
mission. Though his loyalty to his conviction 
of duty led him step by step to the ignominious 
death of a criminal of the lowest order, Jesus, 



1 86 THE CHANGING VIEW -POINT. 

though in anguish of spirit, prayed that there 
might be some other way, yet strengthened his 
soul by submission ; " Not my will but thine be 
done." 

Here we find inspiration to follow our convic- 
tions, even though they lead us where our fidelity 
shall be measured by giving up our lives. Jesus, 
rather than be untrue to his convictions of duty ; 
rather than be untrue to the divine will of his 
Father, which was that he should live as the 
Son of God and tell men what they most needed 
to know, that he should tell them the truth as it 
possessed his own soul, even thought it so aroused 
their hatred that his life should be demanded; 
rather than be false to the will of his Father, 
Jesus laid down his life. He said he had power 
to escape the death to which he was led; he was 
not driven to it by his enemies taking him un- 
aware; it was a measure of his loyalty. 

How much we need to keep this example be- 
fore us. Christ is our example in loyalty. He 
was loyal to his Father; he lived as the Son of 
God should live. Are we living so that our lives 
manifest the spirit of our Father; so that men 
may know God by looking at us? Do not we 
all need to have more loyalty to our own best 
longings and aspirations? The example of 
Christ is our inspiration. 

Let us not rob ourselves of the inspiration that 



THE EXAMPLE OF JESUS. 187 

we need, by thinking of Christ as suffering to ap- 
pease the wrath of God. Such an awful thought 
of God never darkened the mind of Christ. His 
conception of his mission was that he had come 
to bear witness to the true character of God and 
of the way his children should live : " I am the 
Way." We need the transforming power of his 
example; we need to come into close fellowship 
with him. 



CHAPTER XV. 

RELIGION — LIVING IN THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF 
THE DIVINE PRESENCE. 

"The Father abiding in me doeth his works. " — Jesus. 

"All the great religions contain some truth concerning 
religion." — William N. Clarke. 

"One of the strongest implications of the doctrine of 
evolution is the Everlasting Reality of Religion." — John 
Fiske. 

Doubtless the best way to explain the word 
agriculture to a boy raised in the city is to let him 
spend a summer in the country on a farm. Many 
things that you could not make him understand 
by any amount of description, he learns in the 
country at first hand. In like manner, music and 
art cannot be comprehended by studying about 
them : one must hear the " Messiah " in order to 
know its power; one must see the works of the 
masters in order to understand why they are 
valued among the choicest treasures of man or 
nation. 

So, when we ask ourselves about religion, we 
may learn much about it from books; but what 
religion really is we can learn only as we see it 



1 9 o THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

embodied in a life. But to whom shall we go? 
Manifestly, not to the irreligious, nor to the par- 
tially religious, but to the great Master of right 
living, from whose life we may learn more about 
religion than from all other sources. What an- 
swer does Christ's life give us? What was re- 
ligion to him? It may seem strange to ask this 
question concerning Jesus ; if so, it is because we 
have been accustomed to regard Jesus as a teacher 
of religion rather than a religious person. But 
like all other great teachers, Jesus teaches more 
by his life than by his words. And happily we 
know enough of the life of Jesus to describe his 
religion : it was his deeply-rooted conviction that 
he was living in the presence of God, his heav- 
enly Father ; that God was not remote from him, 
somewhere far away; but with him, abiding in 
him, and working through him. Such a concep- 
tion of life enabled Jesus to say : " The Father 
abiding in me doeth his works." 

In this conception of the religious life, the em- 
phasis is on the attitude of the heart toward God. 
The attitude of Jesus toward God was such that 
he could say, "I and the Father are one." And 
this is the conception of religion that he would 
have his followers attain unto. Let us see what 
it means when applied to us. 

It means that the true measure of our religion 
is the sense of the nearness of God. This applies 



RELIGION. 



191 



to individuals, to nations, and to ages. An in- 
dividual is truly religious when he lives, to some 
worthy degree, in the consciousness that God is 
with him. We, in our poor and imperfect fol- 
lowing of Christ, are apt to live as if God were 
with us only when we meet to worship or are 
engaged in some work connected with a religious 
organization, or in our private devotions. Per- 
haps all of us have to begin by thinking of re- 
ligion as connected with acts of worship or of 
devotion. Certain acts are religious, others are 
not ; certain days with us are religious, other days 
are not. This permits a man to be religious at 
church, and irreligious in the treatment of his 
help and in his business; religious at his devo- 
tions, but irreligious in his pleasures. Is it not 
true that most of us begin the religious life by set- 
ting aside certain times, and by restricting it to 
certain kinds of activity? Let us not despise this 
as a beginning. But it is unworthy as an ideal 
toward which to strive. We begin as spiritual 
babes, and a babe is not expected to walk per- 
fectly; but it is expected to walk better year by 
year. If we have confined our religious life to 
certain kinds of activity, the thing to do is to 
extend our range, to include more and more, 
keeping as our ideal the subjection of every 
thought and action. If we begin by living in the 
divine Presence on certain days, and in the per- 



1 92 THE CHANGING VIEW -POINT. 

formance of certain duties, let us press on until 
all days are lived, and all duties performed, in 
the consciousness of the divine Presence. Each 
of us begins how and where we must, according 
to our early training; but all of us should press 
on toward the perfect Model, Christ Jesus, for- 
getting the things that are behind and reaching 
eagerly forward toward the things that are just 
beyond our grasp. 

One of the most practical questions of the re- 
ligious life is, therefore, how to cultivate the con- 
sciousness of the divine Presence. With each 
person this is an individual matter, yet some gen- 
eral suggestions may be made. 

In the lives of most of us there are barriers 
which we have erected between ourselves and 
God. In some cases we have the shutters closed 
to the windows of our soul. It may be that we 
have the northern-most one open and wonder 
what people mean when they talk of the warmth 
of God's love. For very little warmth comes in 
our northern window. If we really wish to 
know what they mean, it would be wise to open 
toward God the southern windows of our hearts. 
Perhaps the shutters are open, but the windows 
are of colored glass, which shuts out the warmth 
and the light. How many of us are looking at God 
through colored glasses! Perhaps it is our only 
way. But we should throw away the glass if it 



RELIGION. 193 

shuts out the light and warmth of God from our 
own hearts. These colored glasses, our creeds 
and doctrines, are necessary and good in their 
places. But a creed that is good for one genera- 
tion may not be the best thing for the succeeding 
generations. The creeds of our fathers were 
built upon the conception that God was a Ruler 
and man was his subject; the beliefs of the present 
generation are being formed on the conception 
that God is a Father and man is his offspring. 
But whatever may be our beliefs about God, it 
is a barrier between us and God to hold any con- 
ception of the Father, whom the world has not 
seen, which is not in keeping with what we know 
of the Son, whom the world has seen. We should 
test our ideas of God by what we know of Christ. 

If we are kept from realizing the divine Pres- 
ence in our lives, more probably the barrier is 
one of practice than one of belief. For is it not 
a matter of common experience that we are dis- 
obedient to much of the knowledge of God and 
of duty that we possess? Do we not all need to 
confess that we have sometimes been disobedient 
to the light that God has given us? One of the 
prayers that needs to be in the hearts and on 
the lips of us all is, " O God, help me to live up 
to the light thou hast given; help me to be true 
to the best that I know." 

We may cultivate the sense of the divine Pres- 



1 94 



THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT, 



ence by thinking of God as not limited to any- 
time or place. It is so easy to fall into the habit 
of thinking of God as the God of the Hebrews 
and of the early Christians; that he was near 
them but is remote from us; to see him in the 
history of the Israelites and not in the events of 
our own national life; to recognize his presence 
with Moses, Elijah, Isaiah and Paul, and yet 
shut out of our own lives the Presence which 
was their inspiration and power. Is it that God 
does not speak or that we are unable to hear his 
voice? O that we might cultivate the listening 
attitude of the soul! That we might have our 
spiritual vision so clarified that we could see our 
own lives and our own times in their true rela- 
tion to the plan and purposes of God! Such a 
vision may be ours if we will qualify ourselves to 
behold it. And the vision comes as our hearts 
are pure. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE SHELTERING PRESENCE. 

"Hide me under the shadow of thy wings." — Psalmist. 

"We believe in a God who is here to-day as much as he 
ever was in his world ; in America as truly as in Palestine." 
— Lyman Abbott. 

The true human spirit breathes through these 
words with a meaning and a pathos which have 
stirred the hearts of men and women for nearly 
a hundred generations. These words appeal to 
the universal heart because they express an expe- 
rience common to the universal heart, because 
they express an experience common to our hu- 
manity. We see here a soul in some great strug- 
gle, driven from the usual support on which it 
has leaned, but which is no longer adequate to 
its great needs, to seek its refuge in the shelter- 
ing presence of God. Since the expression of 
this cry by the psalmist, many of the noblest and 
sweetest voices in song and story have uttered 
its echo; from generation to generation it is re- 
peated : In the shadow of thy wings let me hide. 

The struggle which prompts this cry may differ 
from age to age; it also may be quite different 



196 THE CHANGING VIEW -POINT. 

in individuals of the same generation. But the 
common element is the sense that comes into the 
heart of each man or woman at times that we are 
weak, that we are unable to cope with the situa- 
tion, either with the adverse circumstances in 
which we are placed, or with the evil tendencies 
of our own human nature. It is this sense of 
need, of human helplessness which, when all else 
fails, causes the soul to turn instinctively to God. 

If our eyes are open to it, we may see the com- 
mon struggle about us everywhere. Indeed, we 
shall not have to look far, for some phase of it 
is known to every individual heart. The struggle 
takes two general forms : that which arises from 
adverse surroundings, and that which comes from 
conflicting moods and tendencies of our own 
hearts. 

A common form of struggle with adverse cir- 
cumstances develops as follows : A Christian 
young woman is receiving the attention of a cer- 
tain young man. He is good company, a general 
favorite, and is earning a good salary with pros- 
pects for rapid advancement. It is known, how- 
ever, by the young lady and by the young man's 
intimate friends that he belongs to a set that is 
characterized by the term " fast." The young 
lady's mother points out the possible danger; the 
father, however, favors the young man. The 
wedding is a brilliant affair, Everything goes 



THE SHELTERING PRESENCE. 197 

well for the first five years. Then, in a financial 
crash, the young lady's father fails, the accumu- 
lations of a prosperous business disappear. In 
addition her husband is soon dismissed from his 
position. It is rumored that his employer found 
this necessary because of the young man's un- 
steady habits. 

Being thus disgraced, he tries to drown his 
remorse with drink. After a while he straightens 
up, and through the influence of friends secures 
a position, but one which pays only about half as 
much as his former one. He takes a new start 
and bids fair to retrieve his reputation, but lack 
of sufficient salary is made a ready excuse for 
supplementing it by gambling. From time to 
time he wins. But, bewildered by drink, he is 
found an easy prey by his soberer companions. 
Time after time he draws on his employer's 
money to pay his losses. Finally the stakes are 
raised; he plays desperately and suffers heavy 
losses. These he meets with his employer's 
money. The shortage in accounts is detected; 
he is arrested and a sensational trial results. It 
is found that nearly $10,000 of his employer's 
funds have slipped through his fingers. As the 
trial progresses it becomes certain that he will 
be sentenced to imprisonment for embezzling the 
funds of his employer. His wife sells the only 
property she possesses, the house in which they 



198 THE CHANGING VIEW -POINT. 

live, which was a wedding present from her 
father. The entire proceeds enable her to settle 
with her husband's employer and to secure his 
release. 

Being thus disgraced and reduced to poverty, 
the family struggles on for ten years. He works 
at whatever comes to his hand, but spends a con- 
siderable part of his meager earnings for drink. 
One winter night, coming home from the saloon, 
he walks down the railroad track. It is intensely 
cold and he has his cap pulled down over his ears. 
The i o'clock express comes around the curve at 
full speed. The engineer sees the staggering 
figure ; the engine shrieks notes of warning. The 
air-brakes are applied. The train comes to a 
stop; so also has the awful tragedy of a drunk- 
ard's life ended. 

Let us look at the other side of this picture for 
a moment. What of the refined, educated Christian 
woman who married this man fifteen or twenty 
years ago? I will not attempt to portray the 
struggle of her life. Her fortitude and endurance 
have been truly remarkable. In each stage of the 
downward series of disgraces and straightened 
circumstances her character seemed to take on 
new strength and to exhibit new graces. Those 
who know her best know the secret of her en- 
durance. The stress of life had driven her nearer 
and nearer to the protecting Presence; and in 



THE SHELTERING PRESENCE. 



199 



her countenance was reflected a peace which is 
seen only in the faces of those who have passed 
through great trials and have had as their com- 
panion the protecting Presence. 

The adverse circumstance is not always caused 
by drink. There are other prolific sources: bad 
business management, ill health, family afflictions, 
are among the more common causes. As one by 
one other supports give way, the great thing to 
remember is that in the shadow of the divine 
Presence is the only true refuge for the struggling 
soul. 

I wish now to say a few words about another 
kind of struggle. The conflict is not with any- 
thing about us, but with some state or condition 
of heart or mind. In some cases it takes the form 
of contending with a hasty temper, a moody dis- 
position, over-sensitiveness, or a tendency to be 
uncharitable, covetous or unforgiving. But I 
purpose to pass by all of these forms of the com- 
mon struggle to consider still another, which in 
many cases is of little importance, but in others 
becomes the great struggle of life. What do I 
mean? I refer to the struggle of transition in 
religious belief. 

The cause why the number who are passing 
through it has increased a hundred fold in one 
generation is not hard to find. While in each 
case there is a difference due to temperament and 



2oo THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

environment, the common element of cause is 
due to the fact that during the past quarter cen- 
tury every department of knowledge has been so 
enlarged or modified that we have practically a 
new chemistry, a new biology, a new geology, a 
new astronomy, a new science of history, a new 
anthropology, a new sociology, a new psychology, 
while the religious ideas taught the average boy 
or girl at home or in the Sunday-school are pre- 
sented in terms of thought which accord with the 
general knowledge of the preceding century or 
centuries. 

One by one the results of his study come into 
conflict with some of his early religious ideas. 
At first, if the student is of a devout religious na- 
ture, he does not accept what will not agree with 
his early teaching. Gradually, however, the 
process of revision begins. Vainly has he tried 
to withstand the conclusions of modern investiga- 
tion. Inch by inch he is driven from position to 
position. 

In his mind Christianity is identical with cer- 
tain religious ideas which he has been taught or 
unconsciously assimilated. To accept these is to 
be religious; to reject them would be to throw 
away one's religion or to become irreligious. 
With this conception of the essence of Chris- 
tianity, it is easy to understand why the religious 
struggle is one of the intensest in human expe- 



THE SHELTERING PRESENCE. 201 

rience. After months, or it may be years, of 
anguish and bewildering perplexity, one of two 
things happens, usually: the individual gives up 
his religion, becomes indifferent to the church, its 
services and its beliefs, or he comes to look at re- 
ligion in such a way as to receive little or no sym- 
pathy or fellowship from organized bodies of 
Christians. 

As you come in contact, however, with such in- 
dividuals who are leading a religious life apart 
from its organized forms, individuals whose re- 
ligious ideas no longer accord with the traditional 
statements or beliefs formulated in the Middle 
Ages and accepted without question by the ma- 
jority of Christians, the confession is frequently 
forced from us that if there is any relation be- 
tween belief and character, their religious ideas 
have certainly produced a character of the highest 
type. Its secret is found in the fact that as other 
supports have given way, the soul has been driven 
to find its strength and support in the shadow of 
the divine Presence. Religion is no longer the 
acceptance of certain doctrines; it is a life lived 
in fellowship with God. 

Whatever form our struggle in life may take, 
may the experience of all who have echoed the 
cry of the psalmist teach us the lesson that in the 
conscious presence of God there is strength, vic- 
tory and peace. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

RELATED AND UNRELATED POWER. 

"Apart from me ye can do nothing." — Jesus. 

"The reality that we have in Christ is worthy to be pro- 
foundly felt, and the sense of such reality as this ought to 
be sufficient to move the world." — William N. Clarke. 

"May we walk, while it is yet day, in the steps of him 
who, with fewest hours, finished thy divinest work." — 
James Martineau. 

From the few incidental statements concern- 
ing the manner of travelling in ancient times, and 
from what is known of the methods since then, 
we may say that for at least three thousand years 
people travelled in practically the same way. On 
land, the horse, the camel or some other beast of 
burden furnished the motor power. Whether the 
traveller rode on the back of the animal or in a 
chariot or coach or wagon, the principle was the 
same; on the water, the oars and the sail were 
used. 

It would be easy to draw comparisons between 
the rate of speed then and now. Let there come 
before your imagination the stage coach and the 



204 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

modern express train: we have two distinct 
methods, the motor power of each is different. 

How does it come that in modern travel and 
in all modem industries we have a motor power 
other than that of beast or man? Has a benef- 
icent Creator granted to us of the passing century 
and a half a gift fresh from another realm ? Did 
he look down and see the overworked beasts of 
burden and in his pity for them send a servant to 
man that would not tire, that could not feel the 
pain of the thoughtless or cruel driver's whip? 
Did he see the little children and mothers toiling 
through long and weary hours for daily bread, 
and did he think man would release these mothers 
and children from factory servitude if he gave 
him a power to do many times their work? Or 
did the power exist, at least potentially, here 
within man's reach all the time? Can we explain 
the difference between the former and the present 
methods of travel and of doing the world's work, 
by saying that in the first period man was prac- 
tically unrelated to the forces of nature, while now 
he is coming to understand and to use these 
forces? The difference is that between unre- 
lated and related power. 

Christ said to his disciples, " Apart from me 
ye can do nothing." In these words we have the 
suggestion of a most profound principle — that 
man is dependent upon something, some One, 



RELATED AND UNRELATED POWER. 205 

outside of himself, and that he may be rightly re- 
lated and connected to this Power, or he may be 
unrelated and isolated from It. As nature is filled 
with forces awaiting man's commanding touch 
before they spring to do his bidding, so there is 
a spiritual environment about us, spiritual forces 
which have no power over our lives until we have 
placed ourselves in connection with them. 

One of these spiritual powers within the reach 
of each of us is the church. Paul tells us that the 
church is the visible body of Christ; that Chris- 
tians are members of Christ's body. Why should 
a young man or woman who has accepted Jesus 
Christ as Saviour and Lord become a member of 
the church? Is it not possible for one to live a 
good, helpful Christian life and not be connected 
with any church ? Yes, it is possible : not a few 
have done so. Then why should a young man 
join the church if he may live a Christian life 
without doing so? For this reason: that an or- 
ganized army can accomplish more than an equal 
number of unorganized patriots. The church 
does not exist to save the individual who becomes 
one of its members ; it exists for the salvation of 
those who are not Christians. It seeks or should 
seek to cultivate and nourish the spiritual life of 
its members, in order that each one may be a 
proper and worthy channel through which the 
grace of God and the love of Christ may touch 



206 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

other lives. In order to accomplish this, there is 
need of organization. If our aim in becoming a 
Christian were a selfish one, if we were seeking 
only the salvation of our own souls, we could do 
without any organized body of fellow Christians. 
The very genius of Christianity, however, for- 
bids this : we are each a messenger of the love 
that is transforming our own lives. 

The church is the organization through which 
Christians mass their efforts in carrying on the 
work of Christ. The individual perishes ; the in- 
stitution continues from generation to generation, 
gathering to itself power from the godly lives and 
memories, gathering to itself efficiency from ex- 
perience. 

The great missionary activities of Christendom 
would never have existed without the organized 
church. If it rested with individual Christians 
to support the missionary work, if each one of us 
was left to send our own contribution to the mis- 
sionary on his field, and if each missionary had 
no organized society back of him directing his 
movements in harmony with those of many 
others, we see how impossible our present splen- 
did missionary work would be. Yes, my young 
Christian friend, it is within your power to live 
a Christian life outside the church if you will ; but 
if that is the best thing to do, let us all follow 
your example, and all organized religious work 



RELATED AND UNRELATED POWER. 207 

would cease. We would have no public worship 
on Sundays; as there would be no organization 
to provide the edifice, to support the minister and 
supply funds for the general expenses. Do we 
not see how necessary it is to have an organiza- 
tion, if public worship is to be maintained, if the 
missionary interests of Christendom are to be 
sustained and enlarged ? Becoming a member of 
the church, you help to promote and maintain 
public worship and make possible any desirable 
activity that grows out of combined and pro- 
longed effort. 

But the young man replies he can work through 
the church, helping to sustain public worship and 
aiding in its missionary contributions without be- 
coming a member. Certainly you can ; but where 
would the church be if all of us followed your 
example ? What you claim as your privilege, the 
living of your life apart from an organization, 
is not that our privilege, too; if it is right for 
you, is it not right for the rest of the Christians 
of any community? Have you any special right 
to pursue a course of action which would not be 
well for all Christians to follow? Because it is 
the nature of Christianity to serve those who are 
in need of the message of love, and because this 
diffusion of its benefits requires organization to 
accomplish it, we see why it is a natural step for 
every Christian young man or young woman to 



208 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

join the church. The isolated Christian may lead 
an exemplary Christian life; but he is doing it 
in such a way that it would be a great detriment 
to the cause of Christ if all Christians should fol- 
low his example. My young Christian friends, I 
invite you to become members of the church, be- 
cause the church is organized to maintain public 
worship, because it is organized so to combine our 
individual efforts that the work of the kingdom 
of God may be carried on with greater efficiency. 

Going a step further, it is not only our privilege 
to be vitally related to the organized work of the 
church, there is an environment of spiritual power 
which we as Christians may touch and use or 
which we may ignore. We do not create this 
spiritual power any more than the engineer cre- 
ates steam or electricity; we must, however, like 
the electrician and the engineer, qualify ourselves 
to understand and use the forces so freely at 
our disposal. 

One of the first qualifications for becoming an 
instrument through which the love of God may 
work effectively is to have the various elements 
of our own lives harmonized and unified. Unity 
of effort and purpose is one of the great charac- 
teristics of Christ. For this we should strive, 
and permit ourselves to have no rest until we 
are conscious that a great and worthy purpose 
gives directness and definiteness to all our powers. 



RELATED AND. UNRELATED POWER. 209 

It is possible to be a Christian, to be a member 
of the church, to be engaged in Christian activity, 
and yet never know the controlling power of a 
purpose strong enough to converge all our ac- 
tivities to one end. In other words, there are 
various degrees in the devotion of the Christian 
heart to Christ and the work of his kingdom. 

Christ said to his followers, " Ye are the light 
of the world." But how unsteady was their light ! 
If we knew the rest of the disciples as well as we 
know Peter, it is probable that he was not the 
only one whose light at times became darkness. 
Then, as now, the light of God's love shines 
through the human heart as we permit it. In 
every community there are some individuals who 
have a continuous connection with divine power 
and their light shines steadily, always the same, 
always clear and bright. When by some un- 
worthy act we have dimmed or turned off, for 
the moment, the divine light in our own lives, 
how much we owe to the lights along the shore 
that never fail! 

Steadiness, unity of purpose, evenness of effort 
and endeavor, come easier to some persons than 
to others; but whether it comes easy or not it is 
a quality of spirit for which all of us may strive. 
But, of course, it is better to shine a little and 
only occasionally, than not to shine at all. He 
who will not shine at all, because he is unable to 



2io THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

shine as he thinks he ought to or would like to, 
is like the boy who would not learn his letters 
because he wanted to read in the fifth reader at 
once. Let us each do the best we can in the 
Christian life ; for it may be that he who is doing 
little in the sight of man is accounted as having 
done much in the sight of God, who sees the dif- 
ficulties and limitations under which the life is 
lived. 

In qualifying ourselves to use the spiritual 
power about us, there is a time element which we 
should take into consideration. In any ordinary 
realm of work there is a difference between the 
work of a beginner and that of the experienced 
worker. Is it not reasonable to expect this dif- 
ference also in the highest as well as in the lower 
realms of human activity? Year by year the 
Christian heart is enriched by meditation on the 
worthy and the noble ; year by year it is liberated 
from the mean and the low and the vicious. The 
choicest graces of the Christian life are not the 
product of an hour or a day ; these take years of 
slow and gradual maturing. In whatever stage 
of growth the life is, we should be content to 
find evidences of growth that are natural to that 
period. We will not expect all lives to bear the 
same fruit. 

Every tree or plant has certain powers or selec- 
tion whereby it draws to itself, from earth, and 



RELATED AND UNRELATED POWER. 211 

air and water, the elements which it needs. It 
does this by the constitutive law of its kind: it 
has no choice. Man also has the power of selec- 
tion ; but with him the act takes on a mioral qual- 
ity, for he may place himself in connection with 
that which feeds, or that which destroys, his 
inner life. We should not yield to the caprice of 
the moment or the circumstance of the hour, and 
permit our lives to be formed by the things that 
come to us incidentally; a human life, while crude 
and unformed material, is endowed with the 
power of determining the forces which shall 
mould it into form and give it permanent shape. 

By the exercise of our own wills we may relate 
ourselves to the spiritual power that has come 
to us through the ages, or we may close our lives 
to it and remain dead to the inspiration of cen- 
turies of devout and holy living. 

To what is your life related? On what do 
you feed your soul ? As the dog is made vicious 
when fed on meat, and docile when he has only 
bread to eat, so the inner life of man is made 
strong and beautiful, reflecting the glory of a 
light not its own, or it may be made vicious and 
repelling, self-seeking and full of darkness by 
the kind of spiritual food on which man feeds 
his soul. With what care we select the various 
articles of food for our bodies ! Shall we be less 



212 THE CHANGING VIEW -POINT. 

careful concerning the nutriment of the inner 
life? 

" Apart from me ye can do nothing." Christ 
is the daily bread on which our souls may feed; 
the Christ-spirit in all persons and things beau- 
tiful and true and good, in prophets, seers, saints, 
in uttered word, in noble action, in poem, picture, 
in landscape, vale, stream, in hill and rugged 
mountain, in the song of the birds, in the love 
note of the dove, in the mother's tenderest care 
and in the trustful look of the babe, to all these 
we may open our lives; and in the light of God's 
love, coming from the Son and from all persons 
and things that interpret the same message from 
the heart of the Father, our own soul will grad- 
ually unfold and grow, bearing fruit. 

Does not the powerless, the unspiritual, the 
unsatisfying life, teach us that in so far as these 
phases are true of us, we are unrelated to Christ ? 
" Apart from me ye can do nothing." Is not our 
common need the same? 

"By our past efforts unavailing . . . 
Of our weakness made aware," 

are we not taught that we need a closer, a more 
constant connection with him whose life is the 
light of the world? 



RELATED AND UNRELATED POWER. 213 

"And gently, by a thousand things 

Which o'er our spirits pass, 
Like breezes o'er the harp's fine strings, 

Or vapors o'er a glass, 
Leaving their token strange and new 

Of music or of shade, 
The summons to the right and true 

And merciful is made. . . . 

"Though only to the inward ear 
It whispers soft and low ; 
Though dropping, as the manna fell, 

Unseen, yet from above, 
Noiseless as dew-fall, heed it well, — 
Thy Father's call of love ! *• 

How often God has called us in " whispers 
soft and low!" Let us heed the call: let us open 
our hearts more and more to the Christ-spirit 
in human life, wherever that spirit is found; let 
us feed our souls on that rich pasturage of the 
great thoughts of the ages, as they have come 
to us in music and picture and in poem; let us 
relate ourselves to the accumulated spiritual 
power that has come to this generation as a her- 
itage from the past; and above all, while we re- 
late our lives to the Christ-spirit which may be 
in the things and the individuals about us, let 
us seek a closer, a more constant and vital rela- 
tion with the Christ himself. " For apart from 
me ye can do nothing." 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE COMMON ELEMENT OF TRUTH IN CHRISTIAN 
SCIENCE AND DIVINE HEALING. 

"We are compelled to ascribe to suggestion all of the 
cures of functional ailments wrought in the name of faith." 
— George A. Coe. 

" Prove all things." — Paul. 

It is Ruskin, I believe, who says that there is 
always an element of distortion which affects the 
intellect when dealing with subjects beyond its 
proper capacity, and that the wider the scope of 
its glance and the vaster the truths into which 
it obtains an insight, the more fantastic the dis- 
tortion is likely to be. This observation, made 
concerning principles of architecture, is especially 
applicable to some of the subjects that to-day 
engage the popular mind. In these popular be- 
liefs, " so far as the truth is seen, the vision is 
sublime; but so far as it is narrowed and broken 
by the inconsistencies of the human capacity, it 
becomes grotesque ; and it would seem to be rare 
that any very exalted truth should be impressed 
on the imagination without some grotesqueness 
in its aspect." 



216 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

The human race is as a child. It grows in 
knowledge and in ability to comprehend. All 
that it has accomplished for itself, it puts at the 
disposition of each succeeding generation. Many 
things important to know, the child cannot com- 
prehend in infancy; so with the race. And who 
will say how far humanity is removed from its 
period of infancy? It is probable that we are 
not far from the kindergarten period. Some 
one has said : 

" If twenty million summers are stored in the sunlight still, 
We are far from the noon of man — there is time for the 
race to grow." 

Led by our Father's hand, we are slowly coming 
into the kingdom of knowledge and truth. Many 
investigators in the various fields of knowledge 
are confident that we are standing on the border 
of vast expanses quite unknown, but known to 
exist. And it is not surprising that minds un- 
trained to investigation are ready to accept many 
statements that make heavy demands upon their 
credulity concerning these vaguely known fields. 
And it is still less surprising when we know that 
these statements and beliefs nearly always con- 
tain a certain element of truth. Furthermore, 
let us remember that the element of truth con- 
tained in such beliefs is often a most important 
contribution to our knowledge of the truth. Let 
us be grateful for the golden grains of wheat, 



THE COMMON ELEMENT OP TRUTH. 217 

even though we must separate them from much 
chaff. 

It is, therefore, not in a controversial but 
rather, if the phrase is permissible, in a winnow- 
ing spirit, that we approach our subject. Our 
question is, What are the elements of truth in the 
various popular beliefs called " Christian Sci- 
ence," " Faith Cure," " Divine Healing," " Men- 
tal Healing " and all others forms of psycho- 
therapeutics ? In grouping these beliefs together 
I do so, not because they are exactly alike; in- 
deed, they are quite dissimilar ; but because in all 
of them there is a common element of truth. I 
care little for that which differentiates these be- 
liefs ; but for the common element of truth they 
contain, I am a humble seeker. For I believe that 
this element of truth should be the possession of 
all — at least of all Christians. 

The human body is the most delicate organism 
that the intelligence of man knows anything 
about. The mechanism of the body is unique. 
Compared to the human body, the most delicate 
and intricate mechanical contrivances are clumsy 
and crude. If man were only a machine, we 
could say that he is fearfully and wonderfully 
made. But he is more than a body ; more than a 
machine. There is such a close inter-relation be- 
tween body and spirit that at present it defies 
adequate description. 



218 THE CHANGING VIEW -POINT. 

Now, one of the grains of truth which is con- 
tained in the beliefs under discussion, is a truth 
which we all know, but which we need to be 
taught again and again. It is this : that certain 
functions of the body are differently affected by 
opposite states of mind. Perhaps it is not too 
much to say that all of the functional life of the 
body is differently affected by opposite states of 
mind; fear producing abnormal conditions, and 
faith or confidence stimulating normal conditions. 
We pass into quite another realm when we ask 
why fear should produce abnormal conditions, 
and why faith tends to counteract abnormal con- 
ditions, in the functional life of the body. But 
we know that they do so operate. Observe a 
little child suddenly frightened. The heart is 
beating nearly double its usual rate ; every muscle 
trembles; the perspiration stands in beads upon 
the surface of the body ; the tears stream from its 
eyes. All of this is abnormal. The saliva ceases 
to flow; the gastric juices of the stomach do not 
respond to the presence of food. All of the di- 
gestive processes are more or less interrupted. 
This is not an occasional or fortuitous occur- 
rence. Whenever fear, anxious cares or worry 
possess the mind, the functional life of the body 
is thrown into an abnormal state. Notice in this 
connection that it does not matter what causes 
the fear; the fear may be caused by a real or an 



THE COMMON ELEMENT OF TRUTH. 219 

imaginary object, and the result would be the 
same. If we are the victim of a practical joke 
and become frightened by a friend who per- 
sonates a robber, the effect is just the same as 
though he were a real robber with murder in his 
heart. The functional life of the body makes no 
discrimination whether the cause of the fright 
was real or imaginary. The vital processes are 
bound to our emotional nature; and if we are 
frightened by a friend disguised as a robber, the 
disturbance caused by the fear will be the same 
as though we had seen a real robber. 

So far I am sure all who have observed the 
action of fright upon the vital processes will agree 
with me. It is seemingly a very unimportant 
step ; but in reality its importance cannot be over- 
estimated. Let me repeat: the functional life 
of the body is disturbed by fright or fear or 
worry whether the cause is real or imaginary; 
and the disturbance is in proportion to the in- 
tensity of the fear. The same principle is true 
with reference to faith. Faith, in proportion to 
its intensity, contains expectation. And in the 
realm of functional activity, faith and expecta- 
tion are nearly, if not quite, synonymous. 

Now expectation or faith stimulates the vital 
processes. Hold an apple before a child who is 
fond of fruit and what is the result? The mouth 
" waters" we say. But what is this? It is 



2 2o THE CHANGING VIEW -POINT. 

nothing else but expectation arousing the nat- 
ural function of the salivary glands. While fear 
stops the flow of saliva, so that it has been turned 
to practical purposes in detecting criminals ; faith, 
confidence, love, stimulate the vital processes. 
And in the case of fruit, even its presence will 
not infrequently cause the salivary glands to re- 
spond. This fact is of common occurrence 
among children and not entirely wanting among 
adults. Now, the expectation would produce the 
same results whether the fruit was real or a wax 
imitation. Indeed, I remember attending a Sun- 
day-school picnic, years ago, where some one 
played a joke on a class of boys, Before us we 
saw a fine watermelon — the first one we had seen 
that year, as it was early in the season. As we 
looked at the melon, how our mouths watered! 
Imagine our disappointment when it was cut and 
we found that it was only a green pumpkin ! The 
expectation produced the same action on the 
salivary glands as if the object had been a real 
melon. 

Illustrations are numerous among children 
where faith or expectation reduce abnormal con- 
ditions. The child hurts its finger; it is a real 
injury and the pain is severe. With tears 
streaming down its cheeks it comes to the mother, 
who assures the little one that she will make it 
well. She kisses the bruised finger two or three 



THE COMMON ELEMENT OF TRUTH. 221 

times; and instantly the tears stop, the face re- 
sumes its normal aspect and the little one returns 
to its play. How many of childhood's aches and 
injuries are cured by mother's touch or kiss! 
The child believes and it is done. 

The hospital affords any number of illustra- 
tions of the effect of expectation or faith. Here 
is the case of a young man who has suffered se- 
verely for some time. Before coming to the hos- 
pital he became accustomed to seeking temporary 
relief by using morphine hypodermically. Dur- 
ing his bad days, this treatment was used about 
every two hours. After coming to the hospital, 
during his severe attacks of pain, he besought 
the physicians to give him morphine. For awhile 
they acceded to his request. Gradually the drug 
was lessened and warm water used in its place. 
About so often the patient would beg for the 
drug to be administered. He was in such unen- 
durable pain. A little hot water would be injected 
into his arm and immediately the patient would 
be free of his pain and soon peacefully asleep. 
The expectation of the patient induced the same 
results that would have been effected by the drug. 

I quote the following from Dr. Gorham, who 
has written on some aspects of this subject. He 
says : "In a neighboring city a young lady lay 
for months in bed, and at every attempt to as- 
sume the sitting posture she would faint and be- 



222 THE CHANGING VIEW -POINT. 

come unconscious. The faithful efforts of a 
skilled physician failed to relieve her. A physi- 
cian from another city was called, in whom the 
patient and the family had more confidence, more 
faith. This physician told her that riding in the 
open air would cure her, and that if she would 
take hourly, for six hours, a very bitter remedy, 
it would prevent the fainting. The patient be- 
lieved, had faith, took the remedy and the ride 
without fainting, and was cured." 

It is needless to multiply illustrations. The 
principle which I wish to emphasize is that it is 
possible for beneficial results to be induced b} r 
expectation or faith. This principle is so well 
understood, and so frequently verified, that I 
shall advance at once to the next step in treat- 
ing the general subject. 

And this step is to acknowledge that in all the 
various sects that profess to work cures, many 
of the cures are genuine. How have they been 
brought about? Mental Healing, Divine Heal- 
ing, Dowieism, Christian Science, each explains 
their own cures after their own manner. I am 
not concerned with the individual explanation of 
any one of these sects. Differ as they may in 
other respects, the cures are wrought in every 
single instance by the same means. The dif- 
ference exists in things that are unessential. All 
freely and gladly acknowledge that the cures are 



THE COMMON ELEMENT OF TRUTH. 223 

brought about by faith or expectation. The only 
difference, therefore, between the adherents of 
these various beliefs is in the way, in the method, 
they induce, develop and sustain faith or expec- 
tancy. In one case, faith is induced by denying 
the existence of matter; our bodies are unreal 
and therefore disease cannot exist in an unreal 
body. Advocates of another belief, on the other 
hand, contend that disease is the result of sin; 
that our bodies are real; and that disease and 
pain are real; that the work of Christ redeemed 
the body from the effect of sin. 

Making no further comparisons, it is evident 
that the adherents of these two beliefs hold 
diametrically opposite beliefs in some respects 
and yet accomplish the same or similar results. 
There is only one adequate explanation. The 
effective principle lies in the common element of 
faith, or expectation. And it makes no difference, 
so far as the physiological effect is concerned, 
how the faith is induced. 

From the discussion so far, it has appeared that 
fear, however incited, produces an abnormal con- 
dition in the vital functions of the body; and 
that faith, however induced, tends to correct the 
abnormal condition if it exists, or to stimulate 
the natural vital processes of the body. With 
these conclusions before us, substantiated as they 
are by an abundance of evidence within the reach 



224 



THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 



of any careful observer, a very practical question 
suggests itself. Is it necessary to become iden- 
tified with Christian Science, with Divine Heal- 
ing, or with Dowieism, in order to enjoy the 
common good that inheres in them all? I am 
sure it is not. It is not necessary to deny the 
existence of matter, as Christian Scientists do; 
for those who believe in Divine Healing effect 
cures ; and they believe in the existence of matter 
and in the reality of disease. Nor is it neces- 
sary to accept the method of those who adhere 
to one form or another of Divine Healing; for 
the Christian Scientist has effective faith and does 
not accept their methods. The irresistible con- 
clusion is, therefore, that the common good in- 
hering in these beliefs is open to any one who 
will have faith. In my judgment, this common 
good may be the possession of any man, and 
should be the possession of every Christian. In 
order to obtain it, it is not necessary to believe 
any absurdity or to ignore any of the remedial 
agencies which the beneficent Creator has placed 
at our hand. So far as these popular beliefs 
contain the truth, the vision is sublime; but 
so far as the truth is narrowed and broken by a 
crushing mass of absurdities, the vision becomes 
fantastic and grotesque. 

These beliefs are teaching the world a needed 
lesson, And this lesson is that tonic and curative 



THE COMMON ELEMENT OF TRUTH. 225 

powers exist in a certain attitude of mind. Or- 
thodox Christianity has been so busy in pre- 
paring men's souls for the future world and has 
so far neglected the needs of the body, that two 
great movements have arisen in protest. The 
one is the Salvation Army; the other movement 
includes all forms of faith or mental healing. 
Both of these movements are temporary, for 
Christianity is learning its lesson. The Christian 
Settlement will displace the Salvation Army, and 
will accomplish its work more effectively because 
more intelligently. All forms of mental and 
faith healing as distinct sects will cease to exist, 
when the common good inhering in all of them 
becomes the possession of orthodox Christianity. 
But will this common good ever become the pos- 
session of Christianity in general? There can 
be but one answer to this question: the Father 
is leading his children into the possession of his 
gifts as fast as they are able to possess them. 
Christianity, merely as a means of getting into 
heaven, is passing away; but Christianity as a 
method of becoming a man in the image of God, 
here and now, is possessing multitudes of men 
and women both within, and outside of, our 
churches. At present most of our churches make 
the acceptance of certain beliefs a test or condi- 
tion for membership; God's only and invariable 
test is character, " He that does good is of God; 



226 THE CHANGING VIEW -POINT. 

he that does evil has not seen God." Christianity 
expresses more fully the mind of Christ as it 
changes its emphasis from creed to life. And 
nothing interests men so much as this present 
life — its joys and its sorrows; its opportunities 
and its responsibilities ; its bodily and its spiritual 
needs. 

The Founder of Christianity was interested in 
the whole man, How much of his short life was 
spent in ministering to the needs of the body! 
These popular mind and faith cure beliefs are 
recalling the great orthodox Christian bodies to 
certain neglected phases of the Master's mission. 
When orthodox Christianity shall have fully 
learned its lesson from these popular beliefs, hav- 
ing performed their mission, they will cease to be, 
and Christianity will come into larger possession 
of its rightful heritage. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

OLD TESTAMENT CONCEPTIONS OF SATAN. 

" And Satan came also among them." — Book of Job. 

" Human thought deals with divine realities as it can." — 
William N. Clarke. 

" It is an undeniable fact that we cannot know anything 
whatever except as contrasted with something else." — John 
Fiske. 

"The Hebrew's philosophy was never abstract, always 
concrete; . . . never scholastic, always in terms of ex- 
perience." — Lyman Abbott. 

The interpretation of the Book of Job as a 
dramatic parable makes necessary an examination 
of the Old Testament conceptions of Satan. For 
the sake of historical perspective, the Hebrew 
Scriptures may be divided into three sections: 
( i ) those portions written before the close of the 
ninth century; (2) those written from the be- 
ginning of the eighth century to the close of the 
Exile; (3) from the close of the Exile to the 
century preceding the Christian era. Before ex- 
amining the historical development of the idea 
contained in the term " satan," it may aid us to 
look at the primary meaning contained in the He- 
brew word. The English word " satan " is a 



228 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT, 

transliteration of a Hebrew noun which is de- 
rived from a verb meaning " to lie in wait/' 
" to oppose/' "to be an adversary." The noun, 
therefore, denotes an opposer or an adversary. 

In its generic sense, the word is used in such 
passages as, i Kings xi. 14, " And the Lord 
raised up an adversary unto Solomon, Hadad the 
Edomite." If the Hebrew term were not trans- 
lated, but merely transferred into English, as it 
frequently is, e. g. 3 when used as a proper name — 
the passage would read : " And the Lord raised 
up a satan unto Solomon, Hadad the Edomite." 

In the twenty-third verse of the same chapter 
we read, " And the Lord raised up another ad- 
versary unto him, Rezon, the son of Eliadah " ; 
and in the twenty-fifth verse, "he (Rezon) was 
an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon.'' 
By transferring this term into English, we would 
read, " He (Rezon) was a satan to Israel all the 
days of Solomon." 

In 1 Sam. xxix. 4, the Philistines are repre- 
sented as not permitting David to go into battle 
with them, " lest he become an adversary to us." 
With equal propriety we might transfer the He- 
brew word and read, " lest he become a satan to 
us." 

In Ps. cix. 6, we read : 

" Set thou a wicked man over him ; 
And let an adversary stand at his right hand," 



CONCEPTIONS OF SATAN. 229 

This poetical expression consists of a simple 
synonymous parallelism, in which " wicked 
man " and " an adversary " are equivalent ex- 
pressions. And, as we have seen, adversary is 
equivalent to satan; therefore, " wicked man" 
and " satan " are synonymous terms. 

In 2 Sam. xix. 22, David applies the same term 
to the sons of Zeruiah. 

In Num. xxii. 22, we are told that because 
Balaam went with the princes of Moab, God's 
anger was kindled against him; " and the angel 
of the Lord placed himself in the way for an ad- 
versary against him " ; that is, for a satan against 
him. 

In Job xvi. 9, a cognate verbal form is used to 
express the idea " persecuted me." Also, in 
chapter xxx., verse 21, Job says: 

" Yet thou art become cruel unto me, 
By the might of thy hand thou fetterest me." 

Here the term means to catch one, as in a trap. 

When Esau is represented in Gen. xxvii. 41, as 
plotting against his brother's life, a form of the 
same Hebrew word is used. 

Sufficient examples of the use of the Hebrew 
term " satan " have been cited to show that the 
primary meaning of the word is that of an ad- 
versary or an opposer. This examination will 
help us to understand the development of the idea 



2 3 o THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

of the Satan which appears in the later Hebrew 
literature. 

The development or growth of the idea of a 
personal Satan is intimately associated with cer- 
tain ideas concerning God. In the earlier Scrip- 
tures, both good and evil are attributed to Divine 
agency; God is the source of evil as well as of 
good. He hardens Pharoah's heart (Ex. viii. 
15), smites the first born (Ex. vii. 20), etc. In 
2 Sam. xxiv., it is God who is represented as 
moving David to make a census of the people — 
an act for which he is punished. 

Later, or perhaps at the same time, other 
writers try to exempt God from being the source 
of evil. • Evil is therefore ascribed to subordinate 
beings, who are first merely the agents or serv- 
ants of Jehovah, who execute the Divine will. 
These subordinate beings come to have such a 
hearty sympathy with their office, are so zealous 
in carrying out the Divine decrees of vengeance, 
that, while they remain faithful servants of God, 
they are identified with their work of hostility to 
man, and are regarded as man's adversaries. 

One of the earliest attempts to transfer evil 
activity from Jehovah to a subordinate super- 
natural being is found in the naive situation de- 
picted in 1 Kings xxii. 19-23: " I saw the Lord 
sitting on his throne and all the host of heaven 
standing by him. 



CONCEPTIONS OF SATAN. 231 

" Who will deceive Ahab, that he may go up 
and fall at Ramoth-Gilead," asks Jehovah. 

And one said on this manner ; and another said 
on that manner. And there came forth the spirit 
(i. e., a certain well-known spirit, recognized as 
an adept in carrying out deceptions), and stood 
before Jehovah, and said: 

" I will deceive him/' 

" How? " asks Jehovah. 

" I will go forth, and be a lying spirit in the 
mouth of all his prophets/' replied the spirit. 

The writer represents Jehovah as well pleased 
with the spirit's ingenuity as he bids the spirit, 

" Go forth and do so." 

This spirit is represented as one of the host of 
heaven ; and his suggestion and his part in carry- 
ing out the deception is an attempt to relieve Je- 
hovah from being responsible for the evil. These 
conceptions reflect the thought of some portion 
of the second period (i. e., between the beginning 
of the eighth century and the close of the Exile). 

The conception of the satan found in the pro- 
logue of the book of Job is similar to the one last 
mentioned: it is, however, more specific in that 
the term used is employed as a proper name. In- 
stead of the spirit, i. e. — a certain well-known 
spirit accustomed to carry out the severe decrees 
of Jehovah — we have the Satan. This member 
of the heavenly host is in good standing among 



2 3 2 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

the sons ot God. Because of the nature of his 
work he has come to be called by its distinguish- 
ing characteristic. A hangman is known by the 
function he performs in society; so, with refer- 
ence to the satan, the term as first used does not 
reflect moral qualities at all — only function of 
office. But naturally the agent becomes more 
and more identified with the functions of his 
office. 

Mention has already been made of the passage 
in 2 Sam. xxiv. i, where God is represented as 
being the one who moves David to make the 
census. This account belongs to the oldest lit- 
erary period — some time before the close of the 
ninth century. In i Chron. xxi. I, Satan is rep- 
resented as inciting David to make the census. 
This passage belongs to the third section or later 
Scriptures, and is placed over five hundred years 
after the first account given in 2 Sam. xxiv. 1. 

These two passages describe the same events: 
the first embodies the thought of the earlier pe- 
riod — God is the source of evil as well as of 
good; the later writer, describing the same his- 
torical event, puts into the account the interpreta- 
tion of his own age. It was not God, but the 
satan, who incited David to number the people. 
These passages thus represent two distinct stages 
of thought as to the source of evil. 

Another phase of the conception of Satan is 



CONCEPTIONS OF SATAN. 233 

brought out in the third chapter of Zechariah. 
Here the satan seems to have become so much 
in love with his work — that is, of accusing men 
and of being their adversary — that Jehovah gives 
him a sharp rebuke. Here, Satan begins not only 
to appear, in Hebrew thought, as the adversary 
of man, but also in opposition to God. 

In the second and third chapters of Genesis, 
which belong to the second period of literary ac- 
tivity, there is no development of the idea of 
Satan, though an excellent opportunity is pre- 
sented. In the account given there, we have no 
attempt to represent the serpent as Satan in dis- 
guise. The serpent is as natural to his surround- 
ings as are the fabulous trees. 

A later writer, however, interprets the Genesis 
narrative in the spirit of his own age. He says, 
in the Book of Wisdom, that God created man 
for immortality; the satan, disguised as a ser- 
pent, because he is man's adversary, seeks to 
destroy man. This is the first recorded attempt 
to identify Satan with the serpent. 

Nowhere in the Hebrew Scriptures is Satan 
represented as a fallen angel, or as the head of 
a spiritual kingdom. The conceptions of Satan 
in the Old Testament are a natural development 
in the thought of a monotheistic people, who be- 
lieved in a good God, and yet who felt that they 
must account in some way for the evil in the 
world. 



CHAPTER XX. 

THE RELATION OF HUMAN PROGRESS TO THE 
KINGDOM OF GOD. 

" Thy kingdom come." — Jesus. 

" What we need is the increasing recognition that the 
domestic, economic, commercial, social, political and eccle- 
siastical spheres are all partial and coordinate phases of 
the life of service to the one God who is immanent in them 
all." — William De Witt Hyde. 

The petition " Thy Kingdom come " should 
mean something definite to each one who uses it. 
We comprehend a thing only in its relations to 
other things ; a movement only in its relations to 
human interests in general. What relation has 
the Father's kingdom to the ordinary, every-day 
activity of his children? Is it concerned only 
with the activity of the church; or has it a real 
connection with all human interests, with the ac- 
tivity of man as man? The definiteness and 
scope of our meaning when we use the words 
" Thy kingdom come " depend upon which of 
these conceptions lie back somewhere in our 
minds. If God's kingdom touch only certain in- 
terests of man, the petition will mean one thing; 



236 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

if, however, our conception of the Father's king- 
dom is that it touches man in all his interests, the 
petition is quite different in its meaning. 

We are asking, therefore, a question that is 
fundamental in our religious thinking when we 
inquire what is the relation of human progress 
to the kingdom of God. Let us look first at the 
forms of government, laws, and social institu- 
tions. Are these apart from the kingdom of 
God? 

What is a government, a law, a social institution? 
How do they come into existence? The process 
is recorded in the history of every nation ; in fact, 
it is going on about us all the time. In the earlier 
forms of government, the governed exist for the 
ruler; it is the domination of the strong over the 
weak. A man is chief or king, because he has 
power. Higher types of government come into 
being as the governed come into possession of 
their rights. It is an error to regard the State 
as constituted in the surrender of the rights of 
the individual; the State comes into existence 
and is developed only as the individual realizes 
his rights. All laws that are conducive to the 
welfare of man are good laws because man has 
apprehended the laws of right and justice, which 
are the will of God. All social institutions, the 
prison, the reform schools, charitable institutions, 
hospitals, social settlements, are man's attempts 



THE RELATION OF HUMAN PROGRESS. 237 

to realize his own rights and safeguard them, and 
to assist and protect his neighbor. 

Of this development of government, of laws, 
of social institutions, what shall we say? Gov- 
ernments have advanced from that stage in which 
the governed have no rights to that form in which 
every man may govern himself. Laws that made 
might the arbiter of rights have given way to 
those that recognize the rights of the weakest 
members of the State. Social institutions have 
come into existence and are constantly multiply- 
ing, which aim to protect, to reclaim, to develop 
the members of society. All of these things are 
vitally connected with the welfare of man. Now, 
are the interests of God and of his children so 
different that he cares nothing for what is so 
vitally connected with man ? Rather, are we not 
compelled to say that every advance in forms of 
government, every advance in laws that conserve 
and protect the individual's rights, every advance 
in the efficiency of social institutions whereby the 
weak and the ignorant are aided by the strong 
and the cultured, are also advances in the coming 
of the kingdom of God? When we pray " Thy 
kingdom come " we may mean, if we will, that 
social institutions, laws and governments may be 
further developed so as to aid more effectively in 
helping the weak, caring for the sick, educating 
the ignorant, reclaiming the fallen, reforming 



238 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

the vicious, conserving and protecting the rights 
of all. Surely, in all these things, the Father's 
interests are one with the interests of his children. 
The social and political interests of man are 
far-reaching in their effect upon human progress 
and welfare; there is, however, another realm of 
activity which, while it may or may not surpass 
the other in importance, does vastly surpass it in 
the extent that it occupies the attention of the 
majority of any people. This sphere can be no 
other than the industrial, the mechanical, the sci- 
entific. Is the kingdom of God connected in any 
real way with this realm of human activity? In 
breathing forth the expression " Thy kingdom 
come," are we asking for anything that concerns 
the largest department of human interests, the 
realm in which men, women and children toil for 
daily bread? May we not ask again, Are the 
Father's interests so remote, so different from 
those of his children that the industrial world, 
the world of work and toil, is beyond his reach 
and care? When we pray " Thy kingdom come," 
does the petition, or rather may the petition, have 
anything to do with labor-saving machines, con- 
trol of natural forces, improved methods of agri- 
culture, scientific investigation? If advance in 
these departments has contributed to the well- 
being of man, with this advance, in and through 



THE RELATION OF HUMAN PROGRESS. 239 

it, the Father's kingdom has been coming into 
the possession of his children. 

The question then is, Have the labor-saving 
inventions contributed to the well-being of the 
race ? Let us see : The three great labor-saving 
inventions of the century are the sewing machine, 
the typewriter, the harvesters. Every individual 
in every department of life is influenced to some 
degree by these labor-saving inventions. The 
sewing machine is the housewife's indispensable 
companion. Garments that would take her days 
to make by hand are made on the machine in a 
few hours; this leaves her more time to give to 
self-culture and to the training and companion- 
ship of her children. The typewriter, with one 
or more stenographers, enables one man to con- 
duct personally a business otherwise impossible. 
It enables a multitude of men to dispose of their 
large correspondence in a short time. The hours 
thus saved are so many added to life, which may 
be spent in benevolent activity, in self-culture, or 
in getting acquainted with the members of one's 
own family. The machine harvesters reduce the 
expense of living and make good bread, good 
flour within the reach of many poor families who 
could not formerly afford it. 

These and the countless other labor-saving in- 
ventions, many of which contest the first place of 
importance assigned to the ones I have men-' 



240 THE CHANGING VIEW -POINT. 

tioned, have wrought a greater revolution in the 
activity of man during the past century than oc- 
curred during all the previous centuries in the 
history of the race. It is almost impossible to 
exaggerate the change that has taken place for 
the better during the past few generations ! While 
we have been praying " Thy kingdom come/' 
the Father has been answering our prayer, but 
in a way that many of his children have failed to 
comprehend. In its wider scope, this prayer ex- 
presses the longing of the human heart to co- 
operate with God in making this world a suitable 
home for the earthly life of his children. 

The kingdom of God comes as man comes into 
the thought and purpose of God. Every advance 
in the control of natural forces, every new dis- 
covery in science, every new law or fact added to 
man's knowledge of the universe in which he 
lives, is a step into the kingdom of God. At this 
point, this distinction should be borne in mind. 
Such knowledge may not be a step into the king- 
dom of God for the individual who makes it; his 
character may be such that while God is working 
through him, while as a discoverer, he is reading 
God's thoughts and making them known to the 
world, he himself may be an ungodly man. But 
through these discoveries in the realm of natural 
forces, through the numerous mechanical inven- 
tions, whether brought about by good men or 



THE RELATION OF HUMAN PROGRESS. 241 

bad, the race comes into possession of the benefit ; 
man comes into his Father's kingdom; God is an- 
swering the prayer of his children. 

This larger view of the coming of God's king- 
dom gives a sacredness and a dignity to all im- 
proved and more intelligent methods of culti- 
vating the soil. For the gardener and the farmer 
are co-operating with God in supplying suitable 
food for his children. Improved methods are 
simply more intelligent co-operation on man's 
part — man coming into the Father's kingdom. 
Inventions are produced by the application of 
mechanical laws to a certain end. A few of these 
laws and principles man has already discovered; 
he has entered a little way into this part of his 
Father's kingdom. No man can tell the vastness 
of the region on the border land of which man 
is now standing. The dream of to-day becomes 
the reality of to-morrow. The realm of the im- 
possible — who dare draw its boundaries? For, 
as we pronounce a thing impossible, lo! it is ac- 
complished; it becomes a fact, and soon a com- 
monplace occurrence. 

The realm of the mysterious recedes as man 
understands the laws and the forces about him. 
To the savage how much that is ordinary and 
commonplace in modern civilization must appear 
wholly in the realm of the miraculous ! Imagine 
even the consternation of a Pilgrim father should 



242 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

he awake from his sleep of two and a half cen- 
turies! Recall the gain in communication of 
ideas, the gain in rapidity of travel, the gain in 
labor-saving inventions, the gain in command of 
natural forces, and we begin to comprehend what 
God has done in answering the petition, " Thy 
kingdom come." The Father is leading his chil- 
dren into the kingdom of his power. 

The welfare of his children is the object of the 
kingdom of the Father. The ability to produce 
fire at will is a prime factor in the development 
of man. Primitive man knew of fire only as it 
resulted from the lightning's stroke or from the 
eruption of a volcano. In some way, so far back 
in the history of the race that its origin is lost in 
the mist of prehistoric periods, man discovered 
how to produce a fire by using a flint. For thou- 
sands of years this remained the method of pro- 
ducing fire, and the cultured and civilized had 
little advantage over the barbarian and the un- 
tutored savage. Who can estimate the far- 
reaching influence of the invention, in 1827, of 
the sulphur match? 

Illustrations of man's advance into his Father's 
kingdom abound in an embarrassing profusion, 
in all departments of activity. The possibilities 
of electricity, the possibilities suggested by the 
Roentgen rays and the wireless telegraphy give 
almost unbounded impetus to thousands of dis- 



THE RELATION OF HUMAN PROGRESS. 



2 43 



coverers and inventors. There are good grounds 
to believe that the inventions and discoveries of 
the past quarter century are only a beginning, a 
step into a vast realm lying just beyond. The 
abundant and unrelated phenomena illustrating 
the influence of mind over matter ; the occasional 
instantaneous communication of mind to mind 
when separated by long distances ; these and other 
psychical occurrences concerning the laws of 
which we know very little or nothing indicate the 
largeness of the field in this sphere of human ac- 
tivity that awaits the possession of man. 

The custom is so common to divide life into 
two sections, in one of which to think of God as 
having great interest, while from the other, 
which includes the vaster part of man's interests, 
God is excluded. This surely is a pernicious 
division of life, for whatever is connected with 
the well-being of man is not separate from the 
kingdom of God. 

But the advance of the kingdom of God is not 
confined to the development of higher forms of 
government, juster laws and more efficient social 
institutions, nor to more intelligent co-operation 
with nature in producing food supplies, develop- 
ing labor-saving machines and controlling the 
natural forces; these are a true part; but man is 
coming into his Father's kingdom in another and 
higher way. The peace and happiness of the 



244 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

individual depend ultimately upon his quality of 
spirit. To advance in quality of spirit is the one 
thing most needful to all. The kingdom of God 
comes among men as they believe in Jesus Christ. 
Each one of us comes into the kingdom of the 
Father as we come into the spirit of true sons. 
Jesus is the perfect Son of God. We become 
sons as we have in us the same mind, the same 
quality of spirit that was in Jesus. 

Man comes into his Father's kingdom usually 
step by step. Every sin conquered, every evil 
habit overcome, every act of self-denial for a 
higher good or for the good of others, every noble 
aspiration cherished, every unselfish thought or 
helpful action, is a step into the kingdom of right 
action, the kingdom of goodness, which is the 
kingdom of God. 

There is in some quarters a cry raised that the 
world is growing worse; that of all ages of the 
world this is the most evil. This reminds one of 
the adage : " There are none so blind as those 
who will not see." For at the present day more 
individuals than ever before are studying the life 
of Christ; more than ever before are intelligently 
studying the Bible in Sunday-schools and in Y. 
M. C. A. classes; the religious literature is not 
only vaster in quantity, but more commanding in 
its appeal to thoughtful men and women; the 
Christ spirit finds fuller expression than ever 



THE RELATION OF HUMAN PROGRESS. 145 

before in the founding of homes for incurables, 
for the insane, for the orphan, for the aged and 
the unfortunate; in founding hospitals, city mis- 
sions, social settlements ; in perfecting our public 
school system, in founding colleges and univer- 
sities; in establishing industrial schools, reform 
and industrial farms; more intelligently than 
ever before men are reading God's thoughts in 
the rocks, among the stars, in chemical com- 
pounds; more than 82 per cent, of the area of 
the earth is governed by powers professedly 
Christian, while only three hundred years ago but 
7 per cent, was governed by Christian powers. 

What do these things mean ? God, to a degree 
above what we have been able to ask or think, 
has been answering the prayer, " Thy kingdom 
come." The central interests of the Father's 
kingdom on earth are undoubtedly included in the 
Christian church. But the kingdom of God is 
not bounded by the limits of the church; it is 
vitally connected with all human interests. The 
Father's interests and those of his children are 
one. Every advance of human progress is an an- 
swer to the petition, " Thy kingdom come." 



CHAPTER XXL 

LOOKING AT THE UNSEEN. 

" We look not at the things which are seen, but at the 
things which are not seen: for the things which are seen 
are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eter- 
nal."— Paul. 

" He may boast that he believes merely in the things 
which he sees. . . . But he proves a believer in char- 
acter, in righteousness, in unseen ideals, in duty." 
— Charles F. Dole. 

. . . Men to whom the Christian realities are liv- 
ing things, felt in their greatness and importance." — 
William N. Clarke. 

After an absence of many years you have per- 
haps visited some well-known spot of your child- 
hood days. One of the first impressions of such 
a visit is the contrast between the unchangeable- 
ness of nature and the great changes that have 
taken place in your own inner life. The scene 
stands before you almost as you left it years ago. 
The hills, the valley, the winding stream, seem 
the same as if you had left their presence only 
yesterday. The stream in which you caught your 
first fish, the little brook with just enough w r ater 
to turn your water wheel, the hill down which 



24S THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

you coasted on frosty moonlit nights — how the 
old-fashioned home-made sleds, made of good 
seasoned hickory, could go; how the sled would 
leap into the air when it came to the jumper made 
of a rail with some snow thrown over it, and 
how tightly you would have to cling when it 
struck the snow again to continue its course with 
accelerated speed ! And the woods — what mem- 
ories cluster about a piece of woods near one's 
childhood home ! — all of these things, the woods, 
the stream, the valley and the hills, remain with 
changes too slight to attract attention. 

But what changes the ten, twenty-five or fifty 
years have wrought in you ! How different is the 
world of your inner life, your hopes, ambitions, 
aspirations, opinions, ideals. The things seen, 
the hills, the valley, the stream, have changed so 
little that they appear eternal compared with the 
surge and flow and transformation of the inner 
world of feeling and ideas. 

The comparison at first seems to warrant the 
reversal of our text — the seen is eternal, the un- 
seen is temporal and fleeting. And how easy it 
is to believe it ! How easy to live for the things 
that we can see and feel, that we can eat and wear 
and buy or sell. But a little closer contemplation 
of the scene leads to a different conclusion. The 
stream is not the stream you saw years ago; 
every moment it changes. But the unseen power 



LOOKING AT THE UNSEEN. 249 

of gravity that continues to draw the ever- 
changing particles of water downward to the 
great ocean, this is unchanged. The hills and 
rocks have not remained the same; the action of 
rain and heat and cold is sculpturing the earth 
into different form, tearing down and building 
up, making only to unmake, as if anxious to show 
how many designs are still in reserve. There is 
probably not a rock within your sight that was 
not at one time sand and destined to return again 
to minute particles. The soil in the fields is con- 
stantly changing, giving its substance to various 
kinds of vegetation. But the natural laws of 
chemical affinity, which you cannot see, but whose 
effect you see about you everywhere, are un- 
tiring, ceaseless, unchanging. The woods, un- 
touched by man's ruthless hand, appear as you 
left it years ago. But a moment's thought shows 
how untrue a superficial appearance may be: in- 
dividual trees here and there have died; young 
trees of various kinds, protected from the heat of 
summer and the cold blasts of winter's storms, 
by the greater height of the older trees, are mak- 
ing their way upward into the responsibilities of 
forest life. Examine closely: everything we see 
or touch, the old tree, the monarch of the forest 
as well as the little shrub, is passing through the 
great cycle of growth and decay. That which 
we do not see — the forces of life and of decay — 



250 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

this unseen environment, is eternal. The things 
that are seen, the hills, rocks, woods and valley, 
are temporal; but the things that are not seen, 
life forces and natural laws, are eternal. 

St. Paul makes a most practical use of this 
truth in his own religious experience. By con- 
templating the unseen and eternal realities of life, 
he gains power to live above the life about him; 
gains power to speak of his extraordinary hard- 
ships and severe persecutions as " light afflic- 
tions " which endure but for a moment. 

This principle to which Paul alludes is well- 
known and more or less familiar to every one. 
Who of us does not know that there are more 
than one way of measuring time? Some days 
when the hands of the clock point to a certain 
hour, it seems to us as if many times that number 
of hours had passed, so slowly and leaden-winged 
each moment has been. If the work at hand is 
irksome, if we are performing our task because 
it must be done, a matter of daily bread or duty, 
the hours pass slowly and we become impatient 
with their interminable length. But how the 
hours fly with ever-increasing speed when they 
are filled with work which absorbs and possesses 
us ! We become almost oblivious to time. Does 
the mother whose deepest joy is found in caring 
for her children and her home watch the hands 
of the clock as does the maid who has no interest 



LOOKING AT THE UNSEEN. 251 

in her work ? Two men are working side by side : 
to one, the hours and days drag wearily, to the 
other they are like horses racing, each trying to 
outdo the rest. There are few things that tend 
" so much to brighten or darken our life as the 
measure we are at one with the calling or the 
career we have chosen." 

Herein we find one of the elements of differ- 
ence between the artist and the artisan. No man 
can write a worthy poem, paint a picture of char- 
acter and soul-expression, or do any kind of work 
of the highest order simply because he is paid to 
do it. The music, the poem, the picture, or what- 
ever other form work of high order may take, 
must be a free expression of the powers of the 
man or woman who does it. The artisan imitates, 
follows rules and may copy or reproduce what 
another has already done ; he may be diligent and 
skilful. But his work is unlike that of the man 
who "is free, individual, constructive"; who "sees 
the highest possibilities of the material which he 
commands, and the most delicate uses of the tools 
which he employs " ; who " gives the familiar and 
the commonplace a touch of immortality by re- 
combining or reforming it in a creative spirit." 
The one looks at the things that are seen and 
tries to imitate them ; the artist, on the other hand, 
is the man in any realm of work who sees the un- 
seen and finds no rest of spirit until he has at- 



2 s* THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

tempted to make the world see what he has seen. 

St. Paul carried this principle up into its 
highest use, the art of living. Not all men have 
so employed it. Like any wise and beneficent 
gift, the power of insight has been put to ignoble 
uses, of which gambling is the most common 
form. The successful gambler is far-sighted, 
sees the probable results of movements and tend- 
encies, or of certain combinations, and leads the 
unwary into a pit at his mercy. The gambler 
cultivates ability to see the unseen ; but his motive 
is selfish, base, and unworthy. He is putting to 
the lowest use one of God's highest gifts, the 
power of imagination. 

This divine gift, intended to enable man to en- 
ter into the closest fellowship with God and ev- 
erything noble and true, becomes an instrument 
of destruction in the hands of the writer who, 
with entrancing grace of rhythm and skilful in- 
vention, causes unworthy or immoral characters 
to live and act in song or story. How many 
young lives have been made unsatisfied with their 
lot by reading stories untrue to the principles of 
real and serious living? Suggestions of unreal 
and unworthy living have been begotten in many 
a mind by books in which the favored characters 
lived an unreal and unworthy life. But there are 
few greater influences for high and noble living 
than the book in which mean and selfish living, 



LOOKING AT THE UNSEEN. 



2 53 



low and unworthy principles and motives are set 
forth in their true character, followed by their 
just and natural consequences; or the book in 
which characters in the plain and ordinary cir- 
cumstances of life, circumstances like yours and 
mine, live and act so that they embody our own 
unexpressed aspirations and ideals. Such books, 
whether of biography, history, or fiction, are 
among life's greatest teachers. The power of 
such characters, whether real or ideal, is among 
the invisible and eternal forces working for the 
elevation of the race. 

St. Paul lived above the annoyances, the hard- 
ships, the trials and the sufferings that were in- 
cident to his life, by contemplating the unseen 
spiritual realities. What were these unseen but 
eternal things which gave him such power? Are 
they not included in a list that he gives us : love, 
joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, 
faithfulness, meekness, temperance or self-con- 
trol ? None of these can be seen : they cannot be 
measured or weighed, bought or sold. Like the 
great natural laws of gravity and chemical affin- 
ity, we know them only by their effects. Living 
in the presence of love and goodness and their 
associated virtues and qualities of spirit, Paul 
became insensible, to a large degree, to the unde- 
sired things of his life. 

And this experience has not been peculiar to 



254 THE CHANGING VIEW -POINT. 

Paul. Do we not all have in mind individuals 
who have endured the greatest sorrows and dis- 
appointments, who have been patient in affliction 
and intense suffering, have been upheld and sus- 
tained in these trying circumstances so that their 
lives have been almost a marvel to us? Yes, in 
every generation and in every Christian com- 
munity such strong, patient, peaceful, long suf- 
fering men and women have lived. It may be 
that they are weak and feeble in physical strength 
and little able to fill any place in the great and 
manifold activities of our industrial life. But 
the world could spare any ten of its strongest 
men or most capable women better than one of 
these. For there are many who could take the 
place of the ten, but how few are qualified to fol- 
low in the steps of those who are teaching, as 
only those who suffer can teach, that the afflic- 
tions of life are light and momentary when life 
is lived with the eye couched to see the things 
that are unseen and eternal? These lessons can 
be but poorly taught by word, can be merely sug- 
gested; they need to be embodied in life and 
character. 

Herein we see the gracious provision of a lov- 
ing Creator; the life that suffers most may thus 
be made the greatest benefactor to the rest of 
the community; such a life may be made the 
greatest benefactor if it is lived in the presence 



LOOKING AT THE UNSEEN. 255 

of things that are eternal. Such a life teaches 
the sustaining power of the unseen, invisible fel- 
lowship of God, in whom all eternal things exist 
and have their being. 

And is not one of the supreme needs of our 
life to learn this lesson more and more fully? It 
is so easy to live in and for the things that are 
temporal : the temptation comes sometimes to 
make these the end and object of all our endeav- 
ors. The man of business who wins success by 
untruthfulness or fraud ; the man or woman wiio 
compromises convictions in order to secure rec- 
ognition in society; the student who starves his 
soul while cultivating his intellect; the worker in 
any realm of activity who sees only the temporal 
and over whose inner life these things are com- 
ing to have supreme power; for all of such lives 
there is only one hope — it is the cultivation of the 
ability to contemplate the things that are unseen 
and eternal. 

And to Paul these qualities of spirit were not 
seen as abstractions. The power of abstractions 
is cold and unproductive — like the rays of a 
moonbeam, good in their place, but no substitute 
for the energizing, life-giving sunlight. Love, 
goodness and self-control as abstractions have 
some power; but when embodied and expressed 
in personality, take unto themselves added and 
hitherto unknown efficiency and power. The un- 



256 THE CHANGING VIEW -POINT. 

seen and eternal qualities of spirit which so in- 
fluenced the life of Paul that he called his severe 
afflictions but light and momentary were all em- 
bodied in the life of Christ, his Master and Lord. 
His unseen presence was the spiritual environ- 
ment which sustained and nourished his inner 
life. No change of circumstances, no lapse of 
years, no amount of hardship or persecution, 
could separate him from the sustaining fellow- 
ship of Jesus Christ. In the midst of obstacles 
that would have crushed an ordinary man, Paul 
exclaims, " I can do all things through him that 
strengthens me." 

Through the intensity of his spiritual percep- 
tion Paul made the presence of Jesus more real 
than that of any earthly companion. His con- 
templation of the unseen Christ was definite and 
therefore one of power, renewing his inner life 
day by day. Was it a matter of temperament 
that Paul could do this so effectually? Some 
people are by nature intense, while others are not. 
This is true; we should not overlook the differ- 
ence in our natural endowments; and we should 
not expect different natures to conform to any 
one type of religious experience. But when all 
of this has been granted, each individual may 
strive in his own way, by the exercise of his own 
special powers, to attain to a clearer and a more 
definite conception of Jesus Christ If we under- 



LOOKING AT THE UNSEEN. 257 

stood that clearness and definiteness of spiritual 
vision, power to realize the presence of the things 
unseen and eternal, if we could realize that this 
was one of the highest attainments of human ex- 
istence, would we not give more time to its cul- 
tivation ? For some of the arts, many of us have 
no equipment by nature; we may not be able to 
paint a picture or write a poem, or perform any 
work outside of our commonplace daily tasks. 
Many of us, if not all, lead busy lives, filled with 
the commonplace duties of the day and the hour. 
But each and all of us are equipped by nature for 
attaining skill in the art of true and worthy liv- 
ing — we may, if we will, open our lives to the 
transforming and renewing fellowship of Christ; 
be the circumstances of our daily life exacting 
and severe or free and joyous, in either case it 
rests with our own selves whether we go through 
life with our faces turned toward or away from 
God ; it rests with us individually whether Christ 
is to us a vague unreality, or a Saviour giving us 
power and victory over sin. 

When the time comes for us to lay away all dis- 
tinctions of rich and poor, educated and unedu- 
cated, high and low, when, stripped of all of the 
incidents of this life, we pass into the region be- 
yond, where there is only one language, where 
tongues have ceased and knowledge has passed 
away, the soul that loved and lived for Jesus 



258 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

Christ will have in itself " the elements of its 
happiness . . . welling up with inexhaustible 
fullness from the eternal springs " of eternal Be- 
ing. Then, the things that were seen will have 
passed away because they were temporal ; but the 
things that were not seen to the physical sense 
will have become the seen and tangible things of 
the realm of spirit. 

In view of the sure and inevitable trend of 
every life toward that region that lies just beyond 
the present world of things seen and temporal; 
in view of the higher worth and usefulness here 
and now of a life which embodies and expresses 
love, goodness, peace, and self-control; in view 
of the power that looking at things unseen and 
eternal has to sustain one amidst the inevitable 
sorrows and trials of human existence ; in view of 
the countless number who have been transformed 
into living witnesses of the power of a fellow- 
ship with things unseen and eternal; in view of 
these considerations, let us bow our heads and 
ask God to remove whatever hinders us from a 
clearer perception of things spiritual and eternal. 
Let us ask that all unworthy and soul-destroying 
practices be put far from us ; that all impure and 
uncharitable thoughts or motives be consumed in 
the cleansing touch of the Holy Spirit; that any 
duty undone or sacrifice unmade, which are nec- 
essary for a closer fellowship with our Saviour, 



LOOKING AT THE UNSEEN. 



2 59 



may be seen as a door into a larger life, and will- 
ingly undertaken by us ; let us ask that we may 
enter more earnestly into that culture of soul 
which shall enable us to measure our lives, not by 
days and years, but by thoughts, deeds and fel- 
lowship with our Saviour Jesus Christ. 



CHAPTER XXIL 

THE GIFTS OF THE OLD CENTURY TO THE NEW. 

" Lord, thy pound hath made ten pounds more." — Par- 
able of Jesus. 

" God is so great that he can make use of imperfect 
agencies/' — William N. Clarke. 

" Awaken us to feel how great a thing it is to live at 
the end of so many ages, heirs to the thoughts of the wise, 
the labors of the good, the prayers of the devout. , ' — James 
Martineau. 

The close of a year suggests the mood of retro- 
spection. How much more the passing of a 
century ! Yielding, therefore,, to the mood of the 
hour, let us consider some of the gifts which the 
old century is passing on to the new one. 

The first package which attracts our attention 
is a bundle not unlike an armful of diplomas. We 
examine the label and read " Unsolved Prob- 
lems." Our interest grows and we open some of 
the rolls. Of course, the first topic that greets 
our eye is " Trusts." We open others and read 
" The Multi - Millionaire," " The Underpaid 
Workman," " The Overworked Woman and the 
Idle Man," " The Chinese Problem," " The Phil- 
ippines," " The Political Boss," " Mental Ther- 



262 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

apeutics." Leaving many of the rolls unopened 
we read one more, " The Problem of Aerial Nav- 
igation." 

When we have considered the great changes 
that have been brought to pass during this cen- 
tury, when we have compared our present indus- 
trial and social life with that which existed a 
century ago, has it not seemed that we could not 
expect a proportionate advance during the next 
one hundred years? At first it would seem sim- 
ply impossible. When we stop to consider the 
real facts, however, we find that the present cen- 
tury is passing on to the next one a score of un- 
solved problems, the solution of only a few of 
which will modify industrial conditions and pro- 
mote the welfare of the race as much as the prob- 
lems that have been solved in whole or in part 
during the past one hundred years. 

There is no occasion for us to weep as if there 
were no more worlds to conquer. As perhaps 
never before in the history of the human race un- 
conquered worlds are challenging our attention. 
These are not worlds of unexplored territory or 
of peoples to be subjugated. They are conditions 
of society which need to be understood, natural 
laws which we know to exist, but which we do not 
comprehend, human activities which need our 
fullest investigation, in order that the forces of 
society may be so adjusted as to conserve the in- 



THE GIFTS OF THE OLD CENTURY. 263 

terests of all, and especially to conserve the in- 
terests of the weak. 

We are beginning to learn that any abnormal 
condition in society cannot be remedied by vio- 
lent denunciation. What is most needed is that 
we understand its causes. For instance, take the 
problem of the saloon. How much energy and 
money and valuable time are spent in denouncing 
the liquor traffic. If the saloon problem is ever 
to be solved, and I believe it will be, the solution 
will never be attained through denunciation. It 
must come about by removing its causes. In or- 
der to find these causes we must enter into a care- 
ful and prolonged investigation of all phases of 
the problem. With a large class of people who 
frequent the saloon, the cause of their presence 
there is the social element. Man craves the so- 
ciety and fellowship of his friends, and the less 
resourceful the individual is to minister to his 
own inner needs by reading, the more he will seek 
the presence of those who are naturally his com- 
rades. The home surroundings of those who fre- 
quent the saloon are usually such that it is a re- 
lief to escape from them. How to remove the 
conditions that make the saloon inevitable is the 
real problem in temperance reform. 

Quite another problem is that of the Multi- 
Millionaire Employer and the Underpaid Work- 
ingman. The millionaire is almost entirely a 



264 THE CHANGING VIEW -POINT. 

product of the present century. The great revo- 
lution that has taken place owing to the intro- 
duction of machinery in every realm of industry 
has resulted in the centralization of the wealth 
of the world in the hands of the few. The con- 
dition has become so strained that violent meas- 
ures are being used to secure a more general dis- 
tribution of wealth. If our industrial conditions 
permit the few to amass immense fortunes while 
the many whose labor produces the wealth have 
to struggle for the necessities of life, we may ex- 
pect the frequent recurrence of wealthy men's 
children being kidnapped and held for ransom. 
This, of course, is a drastic remedy, and one 
which meets with our severest disapproval. The 
problem has a legitimate solution, which we await 
for the coming century to work out as one of its 
important contributions to the welfare of both 
the millionaire employer and the struggling, un- 
derpaid laborer. The solution of this problem, 
the just distribution of wealth, will add to the 
happiness and well-being of humanity in a sim- 
ilar manner as did the abolition of legalized 
slavery, in that it will benefit both the employer 
and the employed. 

The use of electricity as a motor power has 
accomplished a great change so far. Its genera- 
tion by water power and its application to gen- 
eral travel will produce even greater changes. 



THE GIFTS OF THE OLD CENTURY. 265 

Aerial navigation is within the reach of possibil- 
ity, but its practical application is a problem which 
the new century may solve. 

We pass on to the new century also the in- 
teresting problem of Mental Therapeutics — the 
influence of the mind over the body. In the va- 
rious beliefs w r hich set forth the doctrine of divine 
or mental healing, the truth is mixed with much 
that is incredulous and irrational. Every in- 
dividual may know that the mind has power to 
influence the functions of the body ; but not every 
one knows the limits and bounds, the conditions 
that are favorable and unfavorable. So much 
has been taught by people who are not qualified 
to give an intelligent opinion on this subject, so 
much error has been mixed with the truth, that 
we pass en to the next century the task of setting 
forth what is true, what the limits and applica- 
tions of mental or divine healing. 

Much of our hope for the future is based upon 
the unsolved problems which confront us to-day. 
Their nature and their magnitude will call forth 
the best energy and devotion of workers along 
these various lines. If we had no problems to 
bequeath to the new century, if we were conscious 
of nothing that needed to be done, our life would 
become stagnant; national and individual decay 
would follow. But so long as we have our prob- 
lems, problems the solution of which minister to 



266 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

the real needs of humanity, we may expect our 
nation to advance. We see, therefore, how im- 
portant to the life of the new century are the un- 
solved problems of the century that is passing. 

We have looked at only one bundle of gifts 
from the old century to the new. Here is another 
bundle. It is even larger than the other; and is 
labeled " Achievements/' Many recent books 
and articles have been written to set forth the 
achievements of this wonderful century. Some 
of the more significant achievements may be in- 
dicated briefly. 

One hundred years ago and before, the higher 
education of woman was impossible owing to 
the time required in the average home for doing 
the necessary sewing. The higher education of 
woman w T as unthought of until labor-saving ma- 
chines had released her from duties that absorbed 
all her time. And chief among these labor-saving 
machines is the sewing machine. 

Since the founding of Vassar College, in 1865, 
schools and colleges for women have increased 
rapidly, and though Oberlin opened its doors to 
women in 1850, co-education did not meet with 
general favor till 1870, when the University of 
Michigan also opened its doors to women. While 
this movement is due to more causes than one, it 
rests largely upon the introduction of labor-saving 
machines into the home and the transference of 



THE GIFTS OF THE OLD CENTURY. 267 

domestic weaving to the factory. The two other 
great labor-saving machines which are entirely 
new in this century are the typewriter and the 
harvester and thresher. Each of these have 
worked a revolution in the industry of the world. 

These and other countless labor-saving ma- 
chines are not merely material things; they are 
vitally connected with the enlargement and the 
enrichment of man's inner life. If rightly used 
they would enable man to do the world's work in 
one-half or much less than one-half of the time 
which would be required otherwise. At least 
one-half of life is thus redeemed from necessary 
toil and may be devoted to self-culture and works 
Which are philanthropic or benevolent. This is 
the lesson we need to learn. If we have used 
these labor-saving devices simply to amass money 
that we cannot use and that disturbs the equilib- 
rium of society, we have perhaps missed their 
true and highest use. 

Another achievement which the old century 
gives to the new one is our present methods of 
conveying thought. A century ago the post boy 
galloped from town to town and the stage coach 
w r as the common carrier for communications be- 
tween business houses and private individuals. 
No change had been made since the early days of 
antiquity. The message must be carried by man 
or beast, or by the ordinary conveyance on water, 



26B THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

The telegraph and the telephone are so interwoven 
in all of our modern life that we can scarcely im- 
agine a condition of society without them. The 
uses of these inventions are greatly perverted 
when they foster gambling and grain and stock 
speculations. They are in their higher and legi- 
timate uses important means in the emancipation 
of man from the necessity of spending all his time 
in doing his required work. What he does with 
the time saved depends on the man: the highest 
use is self-culture and works of mercy. 

Another achievement which has a large bear- 
ing on the well-being of man is the Argand 
burner. During many previous centuries there 
had been no improvement in lamps. Some were 
more costly than others, but the principle of all 
was the same — a cup of oil and a wick. The 
Argand burner introduced a current of air in the 
midst of the flame, and by the means of the chim- 
ney secured a steady and desirable light. Few 
achievements are more worthy than this one. 
This, with the appliances for using electricity for, 
lighting purposes, we present to the new century. 

Some mention should be made of photography. 
How changed the world would be without the 
photographs of friends, landscapes and familiar 
and unusual objects! Many stars have been lo- 
cated by the camera, which were unperceived 
through the most powerful glass. And who will 



THE GIFTS OF THE OLD CENTURY. 269 

say what part the X-rays are destined to occupy 
in surgery and other realms? 

Perhaps the highest achievement during the 
century from a purely scientific standpoint is the 
spectrum analysis. Before this discovery we were 
in doubt as to the composition of the sun and the 
planets and the stars. Now we can penetrate to 
the remotest star whose light comes to us and 
learn the composition of that heavenly body. 

I have mentioned these unsolved problems and 
these achievements as some of the gifts of the 
old century to the new one. The field is bound- 
less, and one is perplexed by the profusion of 
achievements and unsolved problems. The next 
gift should be perhaps included in the class we 
have been considering, but for the sake of clear- 
ness we separate them. What does the old century 
give in the way of spiritual achievement or ad- 
vancement? It is evident to all that this century 
has added some real contributions to the advance- 
ment of the race along the lines of discovery, in- 
vention, and the application of natural forces to 
the world's work. We must not put these in a 
class by themselves and think of them as sep- 
arated from the true life of man. So in making 
the question concerning the spiritual achievements 
of the century we must not think of any true ad- 
vance of man as wholly separated from his inner 
life. Yet there is a sense in which we may speak 



270 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT, 

of spiritual achievements in distinction from other 
advancements. So we repeat the question : What 
has the century achieved spiritually? 

For one thing, we may answer, there has been 
the removal of the unnatural, twofold division 
of life into the sacred and the secular. You know 
the division. Life was divided into two parts, 
and one could so live, could so think of life, that 
these two parts were quite separate. Certain du- 
ties and certain activities were sacred; others were 
not. This division of life into sacred and secular 
fostered a double life in man. At church and 
when engaged in his devotions he was religious; 
in his pleasures and in his business he lived in 
an entirely different realm. One of the real gains, 
therefore, is the breaking down of this separation 
of life into the sacred and the secular. No longer 
can a man separate his religion from his pleasures 
or his daily work. All work to the religious man 
is service to God. It is the spirit that we put into 
our work that determines its quality. This view 
of life glorifies the daily commonplace activities 
which occupy the most of our time. When fol- 
lowed to its logical conclusion, it tends to solve 
all of our abnormal social conditions. The em- 
ployer will not take advantage of his employed 
if he regards his business in the same light that 
he does his worship and devotions, if all of his 
life is a service to God. Neither will the man 



THE GIFTS OF THE OLD CENTURY: 271 

who is employed neglect or slight his work if it 
is a service to God. 

In addition to the breaking down of this divi- 
sion of life into sacred and secular activities, the 
present century has witnessed to a large degree 
the disappearance of prejudice and hostility be- 
tween various religious bodies. In all Protestant 
denominations there is a growing tendency to 
recognize Christian character wherever it is 
found. We ask that we be permitted to hold 
whatever beliefs best interpret for us the realities 
and experiences of the religious life. This is what 
each denomination asks. Our gain has come in 
placing the emphasis on the fact of the religious 
life rather than upon any creedal expression of it. 

This removal of antagonism and prejudice is a 
gain which will be of immense, incalculable 
strength to the cause of the Master whom we all 
serve. It will keep a denomination from attempt- 
ing to locate a church in a town which has already 
as many churches as the population can support. 
Recognizing the other churches as thoroughly 
Christian, the question becomes, Is there need for 
another Christian church in this or that com- 
munity. 

I suppose it is impossible for us fully to appre- 
ciate the feeling of hostility and prejudice that 
existed between various denominations a century 
ago. It would seem that they were almost as 



272 



THE CHANGING VIEW -POINT. 



intent upon fighting one another as they were 
in their opposition against evil. Antagonism is 
now a thing of the past. We await what the 
new century will do along the line of co-opera- 
tion and federation. 

Passing by many other gains in ideas and 
ideals we have yet our greatest gifts to inspect 
In scientific advancement we give to the coming 
century more than all the other centuries com- 
bined gave to this one; in education, both in 
method and aim there has been a creditable ad- 
vance; in the administration of justice, undue 
penalties have been removed from minor offenses 
and graver offenses are more often visited with 
penalties commensurate to the crime; in religion 
there has been a general advance in the removal 
of antagonism between churches, and in break- 
ing down the unwarranted distinction between the 
sacred and the secular activities of life. 

Our chief interest, however, does not lie in 
what man has done, but in man himself. It is true 
that there is a vital connection between the work- 
er and his work, yet the man is more than his 
work, and may be considered apart from it. Who 
can measure the influence of the character and 
personality of Abraham Lincoln or of Robert Lee, 
of Whittier or Lowell, of Channing and Emer- 
son, of Beecher and Brooks and Spurgeon? Who 
will tell us the worth of Frances Willard and 



THE GIFTS OF THE OLD CENTURY. 273 

Clara Barton and others qualified to be named 
with these? We present these as our choicest 
gifts to the new century! 

And along with them the old century gives to 
the new one a countless multitude of men and 
women who in their own commonplace, unno- 
ticed sphere have lived nobly, have sacrificed 
truly for some worthy object, have according to 
their opportunity and ability as truly served God 
and humanity as those whose sphere of service 
and whose unusual ability brought them before 
the eyes of an admiring world. The Christ-life 
lived among men in humble or exalted sphere is 
the choicest gift from the old century to the new. 

As we are a part of the old century, let us ask 
ourselves, What is our gift ? If we have anything 
in our hearts which separates us from God, let 
us turn from it, forsake it and leave it behind in 
the old year and in the old century. If there ex- 
ists anything between man and man which is de- 
stroying the happiness of either or both, if there 
is any form of un-Christian feeling in any heart, 
shall it be taken into the new century? If you 
have not given your heart to God, if you have not 
accepted Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Lord, 
will you not do so and carry a changed attitude 
of heart and life into the new century? As we 
give ourselves to God we qualify ourselves for 
his choicest gift 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

ADDING TO OUR INHERITANCE. 

" Others have labored, and ye have entered into their 
labor." — Jesus. 

" The God-given mandate, Work thou in well-doing, lies 
mysteriously written ... in our hearts ; and leaves us 
no rest, night or day, till it be deciphered and obeyed/' 
— Carlyle. 

" The standard of obligation for an individual at any 
given time is the best that is known to him. . . . One 
who really does the best that he knows will [soon] know 
how to do better." — William N. Clarke. 

Of the general truth of this text there is an 
unlimited abundance of illustrative matter every- 
where. From the earliest moments of the day- 
through every successive hour to its close we are 
reminded that others have labored, and we have 
entered into their labor. The food and clothing, 
pictures and books, conveniences for travel and 
communication, tools and materials for our daily- 
work — what an army of men, women and chil- 
dren have toiled to supply these our needs for a 
single day! The suggestion incites the imagina- 
tion, and the activities of the world seem to exist 
for the comfort of a single individual. 



276 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

Not only are toilers all over the world con- 
tributing to that which our daily needs require; 
we have entered into the labor of all the preceding 
generations. The book that came yesterday from 
the press is the product of a modern printing ma- 
chine, which embodies mechanical contrivances 
invented by a long line of faithful workers; the 
iron and steel of the machine also have their his- 
tory ; so also the paper and the material of which 
the binding is made. How about the printed 
page? Each word has a history and each idea. 
Even the letters are possible because of the work 
of those early inventors who gave us our various 
alphabets. When we stop to consider how much 
we owe to others, the imagination runs out in 
every direction and back through preceding gen- 
erations to the beginning of the life of the race. 
Turn in any direction we will, for those who have 
their eyes couched to see it, there is the inscrip- 
tion, Other men have labored and ye have entered 
into their labor. This truth is wrought into every 
invention, it is written into every law and social 
custom, it is inscribed on every convenience and 
necessity of daily life, written large on every 
luxury, woven into every fabric and stamped on 
the packages of our daily food ; this truth is seen 
in history, illustrated in every battle; it is read 
in the results of every reform movement in which 



ADDING TO OUR INHERITANCE. 277 

the race has been emancipated from physical, 
mental or moral limitations or bondage. 

In view of our heritage from the preceding 
generations, there comes to every man or woman 
this solemn question: What are you doing with it? 
Other men labored and we have entered into their 
labor, either to squander and consume our in- 
heritance, or so to use it that it becomes refined, 
strengthened and multiplied as it passes through 
our hands. Restricting ourselves to the considera- 
tion of things that pertain to the inner life, we 
have come into a priceless inheritance. 

Who can measure the influence of a true and no- 
ble life ? Each of us holds the memory of some in- 
dividuals, it may be a mother or father or a little 
child, some friend or teacher or companion in life, 
each of us has in our treasure chamber the mem- 
ory and influence of one or more persons, which 
we cherish above treasures that can be seen and 
handled, bought or sold. These whose memories 
are among the sanctifying influences of life, who, 
while living were constant witnesses of the unseen 
and eternal realities of the spirit, have passed on 
to us a spiritual impulse and have made it easier 
for us to trust God when we could neither see the 
way nor comprehend the shadow through which 
at times it is the common lot of man to pass. This 
spiritual uplift, this sweet and gentle persuasion 
toward a life of peace and joy, ministers to a need 



278 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT, 

of the human heart which is among its deepest 
and truest needs. 

The very nature of this subject renders words 
weak and inadequate to express what we owe to 
another who has been both an interpreter of 
God's will and a revealer of his saving power. 
We may not understand it fully, but we know 
something of the transforming power that comes 
into our lives from the cherished memory of the 
departed. Our inheritance of spiritual impulse 
comes not only from those whom we have known 
and loved as parents, friends or companions; we 
are indebted to those in every generation who 
have lived and labored for the emancipation of the 
human spirit from the bondage of ignorance and 
vice. Ideas, beliefs and standards of judgment 
which are now as common to us as the atmosphere 
we breathe, have each had their day of struggle 
in which their champions suffered and died. 

Other men have labored and we have entered 
into their labor. The spiritual impulse that 
comes from the devout of every age, and especially 
from the presence and cherished memories of 
some whom we have loved or known, like the light 
of the sun, which if removed would leave this 
earth dark, cold, lifeless, this spiritual impulse is, 
beyond all power to estimate, an inheritance of 
worth and power. 

Having been passed on to us through the de- 



ADDING TO OUR INHERITANCE. 279 

vout and holy living of others, what shall become 
of it rests with us. It is possible to open or close 
of it, rests with us. It is possible to open or close 
some spiritual guide — and not infrequently it is 
the hand of a little child — and be guided into a 
life of peace arid fellowship with God. But in 
this as in other respects w r e may close our lives 
to the upward call ; we may shut our eyes and not 
see the path leading into the brighter day. Are 
our lives closed or open to the spiritual impulse 
which has come to us through all of the holy liv- 
ing of the past? 

So far we have had in mind the heritage of 
cherished memories and of holy example; this, 
however, is only a part of our spiritual inherit- 
ance. From of old it has been a matter of ob- 
servation that the successive generations of man- 
kind are so vitally linked together that no gen- 
eration does or can live for itself. Not only does 
the child resemble its parents in physical structure 
and features : there is also a resemblance in all 
that constitutes man's inner life. The disposi- 
tion, tendency, aptitude and, in some degree, in- 
herent capacity, come to each of us, different and 
unlike in each case, not at all as a matter of 
chance, but as a definite inheritance, because our 
ancestors were what they were. 

This principle of heredity is one of the most 
beneficent and favorable to the development of 



2 8o THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

the race, in that the real gain of one generation 
does not perish, but is handed on, so far as pos- 
sible, to the next. What a call of God this is to live 
as we ought to live ! It gives a new meaning to 
our labors and our prayers. For we do not pass 
on exactly what we have received ; each individual 
ma)r modify his inheritance, giving strength to 
what is good, and lessening the power of what is 
evil. Herein we see one of the divine purposes 
in the institution of the family: for the sake of 
their children, parents are to live nobly and truly. 
For by the same principle that the good in one 
generation becomes the blessing of the next, so 
dees whatever is evil pass on to become a curse. 
But by the grace of Almighty God each of us into 
whose life more or less evil tendencies have come 
may so live that we shall bequeath a blessing 
rather than a curse. 

When we look at the law of heredity we see 
one of the great forces that go to make our lives 
what they are. Each individual has to take the 
inheritance that comes to him and make the most 
he can out of it. Every individual is judged, 
therefore, not by any one uniform standard, but 
according to his inheritance. The story is told 
of several ministers who were discussing a cer- 
tain question; as they did not all agree, the dis- 
cussion waxed warm until one of them begkn to 
show some heat. " Hold your temper, brother 



ADDING TO OUR INHERITANCE. 



2SI 



B.," said a portly and placid brother. — " That's 
just what I have been doing, replied the other; 
"I have restrained more temper in the last five 
minutes than you have to contend with in five 
years." It is evident that these two men could 
not be judged by the same standard. God looks 
at each life in the light of all that has come to 
it from the past. We can do this only very im- 
perfectly, and as a result we are constantly mis- 
judging and misunderstanding those about us. 
If we could see in this or that life the heroic 
struggle going on of attempting to conquer and 
overcome dispositions and tendencies that are 
unworthy, if we could see this as God sees it, 
our judgment would be kinder and we would 
marvel not at the occasional fall, but rather at 
the sustained victory which has made the defeats 
so few. 

Other men have labored and we have entered 
into their labor. This is true also of our en- 
vironment. For our surroundings as well as our 
natural inheritance help to determine what we 
are. Our fathers found man bound spiritually 
and physically. Through what long years did 
men struggle against the power of tyrants and 
feudalism. With great price of treasure and 
blood has serfdom been abolished in the more 
enlightened countries. Freedom of body, abil- 
ity to direct one's own life and to enjoy the re- 



2S2 



THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 



suits of one's own toil ; freedom of spirit, lack of 
compulsion to accept a given belief or creed; 
freedom to worship God according to the dictates 
of our own conscience — how dearly these have 
been gained! These have come to us; others 
have labored and we have entered into their labor. 
Is there nothing for us to do but to use these 
blessings and pass them on uncorrupted! That 
would be no easy task. But is there nothing more 
for us than this? 

Freedom of body is to many only a theory or 
an ideal. They are bound as truly as was the 
serf of the Middle Ages. Here is a problem that 
is worthy of your most heroic endeavor, to un- 
bind the bondage of poverty and set the prisoner 
free. It is a more difficult task than the dis- 
placement of feudalism; for the root of the mat- 
ter lies deeper in human nature. On one hand, 
it is the selfishness of the other man who has 
him in his power, that tends to keep a poor man 
poor even though he may be industrious ; on the 
other hand, indolence, mismanagement and in- 
temperance are the elements of the atmosphere 
into which he is born. Breathing these they form 
his life and give their character, as it were, to his 
very blood. We have attained to physical free- 
dom as a theory. This was a great step. A far 
longer stride will be taken when we shall have 
changed the environment so that there will be 



ADDING TO OUR INHERITANCE. 283 

no atmosphere in which vice and intemperance 
seem natural and inevitable ; when our laws shall 
compel a man who will not do it otherwise to pay 
his employed what they earn. No man is free 
who does not enjoy the results of his own toil; 
no man is free whose life is not in some worthy 
measure in harmony with the laws of his own 
being. Here is a realm in which we may work 
and toil in order to add to the heritage of future 
generations. For the economic and the moral 
and the religious problems are in their ultimate 
analysis one and the same. 

Life is one ; it is a unity, and we do it violence 
w T hen we divide it into sections. Man's real in- 
terests all center in w r hat is for the unbinding of 
his soul from what is vicious and ignoble, what is 
blinding and soul-destroying. Others have la- 
bored to gain what we already possess; they, 
however, have not robbed us of our problems. 
And men and women are giving themselves to 
the tasks before us with the seriousness that the 
conditions demand. 

How are we to equip ourselves to help unbind 
the selfish man from the greed of power, and to 
unloose the vicious man from his vices, and to 
give the man who is a slave to intemperate habits 
the power of self-control? What equipment do 
we need? It is one and the same for all. It is 
the love of Jesus Christ in our hearts and a 



284 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

knowledge of the conditions in our heads. No 
amount of enthusiasm can take the place of ac- 
curate knowledge. It is folly to condemn with- 
out seeking for a remedy. One of the greatest 
needs of the hour is to understand the abnormal 
conditions about us. Then we will seek to 
cleanse the source, and not waste our time in vain 
attempts to purify the stream. 

Other men have labored and you have entered 
into their labor. " When we think of those whom 
the universal verdict of mankind places on the 
highest range of moral elevation," what is it that 
has given such wonderful quality to their work 
and such exaltation to our conception of the 
workers themselves ? It is because they have not 
worked for that which has perished in a day ; they 
contributed something to the imperishable herit- 
age of the race. 

The highest realm in which we can work is 
the cultivation of whatever is God-like in human 
nature. We might call it soul-culture. We need 
a clearly perceived end toward which to strive. 
This is found in likeness to Jesus Christ. This 
culture is not artificial, the taking on of some- 
thing from outside; it is the unfolding of our 
own peculiar inheritance, the enrichment and ex- 
pansion of our own personality. Such culture 
on our part will add to the spiritual impulse of 
the race, and each of us in our own unnoticed 



ADDING TO OUR INHERITANCE. 285 

sphere may become a worker together with God. 
We have come into possession of the thoughts 
of many ages concerning God. What a heritage 
is ours ! How much we are indebted to seer, sage 
and prophet for ideas of God ! But God is not the 
God of the dead or of the past : he is the God of 
the living. Did not Jesus come to lead men into 
a vital fellowship with the Father? Did he not 
say that the Spirit should lead men into the 
truth? Shall we who are of the present live on 
the vision and experience of the past, not daring 
to open our own souls to the same Source from 
whence has come all truth ? Shall we be content 
to use our inheritance when it may be our happy 
privilege to add to it? God's revelation to pre- 
ceding generations constitutes a part of the 
world's choicest treasure; but if we make this a 
substitute for a living fellowship with God, if 
we rest content with the vision of God and of 
truth granted to men of the past, then will our 
religion grow formal and lifeless, and the accept- 
ance of a creed will take the place of a vital fel- 
lowship with the living God. Against this we 
need to be on our guard. While we are glad for 
all messages of God to preceding generations, let 
us cultivate the listening attitude of soul, in order 
that we may hear the word which God is speak- 
ing to our own age, our own generation. 



286 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

" New occasions teach new duties ; time 
Makes ancient good uncouth; 
They must upward still, and onward, who 
Would keep abreast with truth." 

My friends, if you are unable to interpret your 
religious experience wholly in the terms of the 
past, dare to think of God aiid of your relation 
to him in view of all of the light that you possess. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

EACH AGE FINDING ITS OWN CHRIST. 

" He shall guide you into all the truth." — Jesus. 

" Every growing thing grows according to the soil it 
falls into, and the seed of the word was no exception. 

. . . There is great need of learning to distinguish 
between the realities that the Christian doctrine affirms 
and the explanations of them." — William N. Clarke. 

If we are to think of the Holy Spirit with any 
degree of definiteness, we must have some idea 
of the relation of this indwelling Spirit to the 
life and work of our Saviour. 

As we approach this subject it is well to keep 
in mind that we seek the practical and experi- 
mental truth. If our object were to discuss the 
metaphysical relation between Christ and the Holy 
Spirit we should be led into a realm of specula- 
tion in which men are always inclined to confuse 
the reality with some explanation of it. 

This is what the early church did on this very 
subject. The principal doctrinal difference be- 
tween the Roman and the Greek Church is 
whether the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father 
or from the Father and the Son. The confession 



2 88 THE CHANGING VIEW-POlNT. 

adopted by both the Eastern and the Western 
sections of Christianity contained the statement 
that the Holy Spirit came from the Father ; later, 
the Roman theologians wished to insert the word 
fflioque, and the Son, but the Greek or Eastern 
section of the church would not accept the inser- 
tion. Of course, there was a rivalry between 
Constantinople and Rome long before this, each 
city claiming to be the central authority of the 
church; Rome, because it had been the seat of 
empire for many centuries; and Constantinople, 
because Constantine had changed his capital from 
Rome to the Eastern city which he founded and 
named after himself. Western Christianity cen- 
tered about Rome, and the churches of the East 
looked to Constantinople as their leader and 
champion. When the Western or Roman section 
of Christianity proposed this change in the creed, 
a bitter controversy arose, and Rome excom- 
municated Constantinople, and Constantinople in 
turn excommunicated the Western Church. And 
from that date, 1054, the Greek Church and the 
Roman Church separated into hostile camps. 

It is perhaps impossible for us to appreciate the 
intense fierceness of these early controversies; 
and this controversy, whether the Spirit pro- 
ceeded from the Father alone or from both the 
Father and the Son, was hotly contested, as 



EACH AGE FINDING ITS OWN CHRIST, 289 

though the salvation of the world depended on 
the issue. 

Keeping in mind this ancient controversy as 
a warning against fruitless speculation, let us turn 
to the words of Christ. How would Christ have 
us think of the Holy Spirit in relation to his own 
work? Do we not get a ray of light in the ex- 
pressions, " He shall bear witness of me " ; " He 
shall take of mine and declare it unto you " ; 
" He shall lead you into all the truth " ? Do not 
these and other similar statements give us a basis 
for thinking of the Holy Spirit as the Interpreter 
of Christ? 

To know and to understand Christ is the great 
need of the human heart ; for in the life of Christ 
we have the character of God set forth in terms 
of human activity and life. Jesus said to his in- 
quiring disciples, " I and the Father are one." 

Through all the ages, in every land, the human 
spirit has been reaching out after God, because 
the heavenly Father has so constituted the nature 
of his children. Man everywhere has some form 
of religion. The Psalmist voices the universal 
cry of the human spirit when he says, " As the 
heart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth 
my soul after thee, O God." A sense of need 
is at the basis of all religion. When the highest 
conscious need of the race was for success in 
battle or for sw4 time and harvest, man thought 



290 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

of God as being able to supply these needs, and 
his thought went no further until new needs or 
higher ones were incited or discovered to him. 
So as man's conscious needs have risen higher 
and higher, his conception of God has become 
more and more exalted, because he has always 
thought of God as a Being who could satisfy 
the deepest desires of the human heart. 

But in early times, as now, the spiritual progress 
of the race has not been in an even, straight line, 
but rather backward and forward, like the surg- 
ing of a wave, but a wave that in spite of retro- 
grade movements makes progress toward a goal. 
In and through all of the upward struggle of the 
race from savagedom, in spite of man's slowly 
unfolding capacity for God, it remains one of the 
great facts of human history that man has ever 
reached out after God, though often it was after 
an unknown God. 

In answer to this reaching out after God, 
Christ came into the world to make the heavenly 
Father known to mankind, to live and to die in 
order to bring man to God. Why did Christ not 
come sooner? Why does a child have to learn 
to add and subtract before it can work problems 
in multiplication ? Because adding and subtract- 
ing are involved in multiplication. Before God 
could enter humanity and live among men, the 
race, or at least a portion of it, must be prepared 



EACH AGE FINDING ITS OWN CHRIST. 



291 



to understand the message that such a life would 
bring. Patiently, through several centuries, God 
trained a people, and in the. fullness of time, when 
there had been developed, at least in some worthy 
degree, spiritual capacity for understanding the 
revelation which Christ was to make, Jesus came 
as the messenger of God to make known the di- 
vine character, the same as an only begotten son 
would make known the character of his father. 
Through all the previous ages God had been re- 
vealing himself among every people as they were 
able to understand his revelation. But often the 
grain of truth seemed all but lost in lives of 
peoples just emerging from the animalism of sav- 
agedom. In ways that are partly intelligible to 
us and partly beyond our comprehension, the He- 
brew people was so trained and disciplined, the 
spiritual capacity so enlarged, that the message 
of the Christ and the example of his life would 
be within the range of comprehension. 

And when this time had come, Christ came into 
the world and lived among men. He said he was 
the Light of the world. Man everywhere had 
been groping, as in the dark, after God. What 
more natural than that the heavenly Father 
should send a light to guide the uncertain foot- 
steps of his children, who were walking in the 
dim twilight or denser darkness of a mind not 
yet unloosed from its heritage from its lower an- 



2 9 2 THE CHANGING VIEW -POINT. 

cestry ! Well did Jesus say that he had come to 
seek and to save the lost. But equally significant 
is that other expression when he said his follow- 
ers also were the light of the world. Jesus came 
to show man the path to the Father's home; and 
not only this, he made known to the world the 
character of God. What inadequate conceptions 
the Pharisees and the Sadducees had of God! 
What inadequate ideas they held concerning the 
way from the human soul to its true home in the 
heavenly Father's house! 

As the Light of the world, Christ came to show 
man the way to the Father's house : his country- 
men refused to have him as their Guide and be- 
came so incensed at his teaching that they clam- 
ored for his death, and did not rest until they had 
accomplished it. But through it all, Christ was 
true to his mission of bearing witness to the truth 
about God. And this fidelity led him to the awful 
conflict in the Garden, where he cries out to be 
released from drinking the cup which he plainly 
saw was before him. He measured his fidelity 
by yielding his life rather than be false to the 
mission of being the Light of the world. He came 
to live the life of God among men, and he was 
true to this purpose, though it brought him to the 
ignominious death on the cross. His death meas- 
ured his complete sacrifice of himself in order to 
bring man to God, 



EACH AGE FINDING ITS OWN CHRIST. 293 

" When I survey the wondrous cross 
On which the Prince of Glory died, 
My richest gain I count but loss, 
And pour contempt on all my pride. 

"Were the whole realm of nature mine, 
That were a present far too small; 
Love so amazing, so divine, 

Demands my soul, my life, my all." 

What shall we say of the Holy Spirit in rela- 
tion to the work of Christ? What is our need, 
now that God has entered humanity and dwelt 
among men? The need is the same as of old — 
to know God. Before Christ came, the Holy 
Spirit, God in the heart of man making him holy, 
was the inspiration and guide in all the moral 
progress of the race. Through prophet and sage 
and seer the indwelling Spirit moved men to find 
their home and their peace in communion and fel- 
lowship with God. 

Jesus brought to man a revelation of God 
which is as the full noonday, while all that had 
come before him were as the faint or glowing rays 
of the dawn. These spoke of God, said what he 
was like, called men to certain duties, speaking 
forth the message of Jehovah with all assurance. 
But Jesus lived the life of God among men, en- 
tered into humanity's joys and sorrows, and thus 
manifested, made known, God in terms of hu- 
man conduct and character. He made known in 



294 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

time what God eternally is. No longer did man 
need to grope after God as if he were feeling in 
the dark : the Light of the world had come. Jesus 
in his life and teaching brought into the world a 
wealth of truth about God which man apprehends 
as he is able. Now, we have come to the function 
of the Holy Spirit in relation to the work and 
life of Christ. The Holy Spirit interprets the 
Christ to every age as the age is able to receive 
him. 

The race is like a child at school; it cannot 
master a great subject all at once. "It is vain 
to imagine that the first disciples could know their 
Master perfectly at once, for even the divine 
Spirit cannot dispense with the element of time 
in guiding human beings into truth." From the 
time of Christ until now the Holy Spirit has been 
bearing witness of the Christ, glorifying him, and 
leading his followers into clearer and fuller ap- 
prehensions of truth as it is in Christ. 

Every age has seen in Christ what it was able 
to see and no more; the divine Spirit who was 
to lead the followers of Christ into all the truth, 
interprets the Christ to each age as the age is able 
to understand. 

In the lives of the earliest followers of Christ 
we may see how this works. The book of Mark 
is the first written of the Gospels, and John's the 
last. During the half century which elapsed be- 



EACH AGE FINDING ITS OWN CHRIST. 295 

tween the writing of these two books, the Spirit 
had led the disciples into a far deeper insight of 
the revelation given in Christ than they had at 
first. The Spirit was bearing witness to the 
Christ; and men were apprehending more fully 
the meaning of that matchless life. 

And the same thing may be seen more definitely 
in the life of Paul. Any close student of Paul's 
epistles cannot fail to note the growing Christli- 
ness in the tone and emphasis of Paul as we go 
from his earlier to his later writings. How much 
he learned in the last quarter of a century of his 
earthly life ! And he who reads between the lines 
may see that Paul was a most willing and teach- 
able pupil in the school of the divine Spirit who 
was promised to lead men into the truth. 

What was true of the earliest followers of Je- 
sus has characterized the entire history of the 
church. The Holy Spirit has led the church step 
by step into deeper and truer comprehension of 
the teaching and life of Jesus. And is not this 
what our Saviour promised ? Was he not to bear 
witness of Jesus, to glorify him, to lead the fol- 
lowers of Jesus into the truth? In no period of 
the church have Christians fully comprehended 
the Christ, neither in the past nor at the present ; 
but the beliefs and creedal statements of various 
periods give unmistakable evidence that there 
has been a growing apprehension of the teaching 



296 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

and life-work of the Christ. It would take an- 
other Christ to comprehend fully our divine 
Master. In each epoch of the history of the 
church, the Holy Spirit has led first some follower 
of Christ into a deeper insight of the realities set 
forth by our Saviour; then, gradually, the vision 
of the one is diffused and passed into the posses- 
sion of the many. This is the history of every 
great religious movement, and may be seen per- 
haps clearest of all in the Reformation. For the 
first two or three hundred years of the church, 
Christianity was a persecuted sect, and time 
after time the ranks were decimated by the Ro- 
man emperors. With this in mind, we see why 
little attention was paid to the formulation of 
beliefs But as soon as Christianity was relieved 
from the stress of persecution, and also because 
the period for reflection had come, the church be- 
gan to set forth explanations and creeds. So 
much emphasis was placed upon these doctrines 
that they soon took the place of Christ. To be a 
Christian meant to give intellectual assent to cer- 
tain doctrinal statements; it did not necessarily 
mean an acceptance of Christ. And finally, for 
several centuries preceding the Reformation, the 
church did not even require the acceptance of a 
doctrine ; he was a good Christian who performed 
certain duties, and these consisted for the most 
part in saying prayers and giving alms. The 



EACH AGE FINDING ITS OWN CHRIST. 2g7 

whole structure of the mediaeval church was built 
upon conformity to external requirements. 

The keynote of the Reformation was that man 
is not saved by doing these external requirements ; 
salvation is by faith. It is a vital and personal 
attachment of the believer to Jesus Christ. Then 
mighty intellects turned to the task of explaining 
how Christ saves men. You recall that for many 
centuries it was believed that Christ ransomed 
the race from the ownership of Satan; Calvin 
said that the debt was not paid to Satan but to 
God. Man ought to have died as a penalty for 
his sins, but God had elected some to be saved; 
these could not help being saved; the non-elect 
could not be saved if they wished, but they would 
not wish it. Christ, therefore, suffered on the 
cross exactly what all the elect should have suf- 
fered if they had gone to perdition. This is Cal- 
vin's doctrine of substitution. Christ suffered in 
the place of the elect ; for no one else, and exactly 
what they should have suffered. Why did Christ 
suffer? Calvin says: " In order to appease the 
divine wrath; in order to make it possible for 
God to forgive the Elect/' 

The element of gain in this view over the pre- 
Reformation theology is that the individual is 
turned away from fulfilling certain outward re- 
quirements and is brought into personal fellow- 
ship with Christ. Before the Reformation the 



2 9 S THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

individual had to approach God through the 
church, its ministry and its sacraments; through 
Christ and the saints a large treasury of merits 
had accumulated, and this was at the disposal of 
the church to offset the sins of man. This doc- 
trine proved a great source of revenue; pay so 
much and have so many prayers said, and so 
much of these merits would be placed opposite 
your sins. Thus the individual was bound; he 
could come into the favor of God only through 
the church. The doctrine of the Reformers 
opened an avenue directly into the presence of 
God; not through the mediation of the church, 
but by direct fellowship with God, through 
Christ, was man to be unloosed from the bondage 
of sin. 

I repeat that the gain was great. The divine 
Spirit was leading the followers of Christ into 
the truth; but only into the truth as the people 
of the sixteenth century were able to apprehend 
it. Monarchy was the prevailing type of gov- 
ernment ; and the relations between God and man 
were set forth in terms of a monarchical govern- 
ment. In his thinking on religious subjects, man 
cannot get away from the dominant ideas of his 
age. 

Now, it so happens that during the past cen- 
tury the race has come into possession of unprece- 
dented knowledge of the universe and of them- 



EACH AGE FINDING ITS OWN CHRIST. 299 

selves. Knowledge of nature and of the human 
race is indirectly knowledge of God. Has the 
intellectual awakening during the past century 
been apart from the guiding hand of the heav- 
enly Father? To ask the question is to answer 
it. God is in every upward movement that tends 
to enrich and to enlarge the human spirit. We 
have been praying, " Thy kingdom come/' and 
God has been answering this prayer in manifold 
ways that surpass the comprehension of man. O, 
that we had eyes to see the glorious strides which 
have been taken during the past century in mak- 
ing righteousness a reality, in diffusing the spirit 
of Christ among men! 

In view of this enlargement of our knowledge, 
which we have gained through a more careful 
and extended study of the human race and of the 
world in which we live, the Holy Spirit, the great 
Teacher and Leader of the followers of Christ, is 
leading men everywhere to a restatement of re- 
ligious beliefs, to a new explanation of the eternal 
realities of religion in view of all the light we pos- 
sess, and in the terms of the thought of our own 
age. We are living in a period of restatement of 
religious beliefs just as surely as was the period 
of the Reformation. Shall we say that the pres- 
ent transition in religious thought is not of God ? 
There were those at the time of the Reformation 
who did not understand, who could not see, that 



3 oo THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT. 

movement as a step toward God. But as we 
look back upon it now we see that it is the most 
important event in the history of Christianity 
since the life-work of Jesus himself. 

How shall we think of the Holy Spirit as re- 
lated to the teaching and life of the Christ? The 
Holy Spirit is the ever-present Teacher and Guide 
of the church, glorifying Jesus by interpreting 
him as his followers are able to understand. Each 
age has had the vision of Christ that it was able 
to see ; each age has been taught the lesson it had 
capacity to learn. But, oh, the unspeakable 
glory of the Christ which we have not yet seen, 
and do not yet have eyes to see ! And the lessons 
the church has yet to learn at the feet of her 
Lord! 

One condition for a clearer vision of the Christ 
is that we be obedient to the vision we have seen. 
What an exacting qualification is this ! We must 
live up to the light that we possess. But a mo- 
ment's reflection will show us the reasonableness 
of this condition. For knowledge of God is in- 
tended to be not an attainment merely, an intel- 
lectual possession, but to enter into human life, 
transforming and purifying it. " This is life 
eternal, that they should know thee, the only true 
God, and him whom thou didst send, even Jesus 
Christ." We gain our fullest knowledge of God 
through the revelation given in the life of Jesus; 



EACH AGE FINDING ITS OWN CHRIST. 301 

and the Holy Spirit interprets the Christ to each 
age and to each individual as the individual or 
the age is able to receive the truth. Tennyson 
sings of a little flower, 

" Flower in the crannied wall, 
I pluck you out of the crannies: 
Hold you here, root and all, in my hand, 
Little flower — but if I could understand 
What you are, root and all, and all in all, 
I should know what God and man is," 

As nature, God's living garment, has fresh and 
seemingly inexhaustible surprises for the suc- 
cessive centuries, so Christ is an inexhaustible 
revelation of God, a treasure chamber, as it were, 
from which each generation gets its choicest 
g;ems, from which each individual may get the 
pearl of great price. 

The great Teacher of humanity, the Divine 
Spirit, leads each age to find the Christ that it is 
able to understand. Here is the cause of the 
transition in religious thought. A new and larger 
vision of the Christ is unfolding. Our fathers 
saw the Christ in doctrines and creeds. By de- 
fending their creeds they compelled earnest 
thought, and emancipated the mind from many 
superstitions and errors. In the meanwhile the 
church, while struggling for doctrinal correct- 
ness, has compelled the Christ-spirit to express it- 
self, to a considerable degree, through brother- 



3 o2 THE CHANGING VIEW-POINT, 

hoods, philanthropic societies and numerous 
other agencies outside of the church. Thus cor- 
rectness of doctrine has been purchased at a great 
cost. All of the activities that naturally grow- 
out of the Christ-life should center in the church, 
and the separation of these beneficent activities 
from the church, so far as they have been sepa- 
rated, has weakened the power of organized 
Christianity in every community. If the church 
is ever to regain the regal power that rightfully 
belongs to her, it must be obtained by changing 
her allegiance from an impersonal creed to a 
personal Christ. And just such a change is being 
effected gradually everywhere. "We are enter- 
ing, if the signs of the times fail not, upon a new 
era of faith," writes Henry Van Dyke. " The 
new movement in theology is the Renaissance of 
faith," says Amory H. Bradford. And on this 
subject Washington Gladden writes, " For one, 
I firmly believe that modern thought is laboriously 
building up a foundation for our faith far more 
firm and broad than that on which men rested 
their souls in what were known as the ages of 
fatih." William N. Clarke writes, "The truth 
is that in what we call the ages of faith the large- 
ness of the power of Christ was scarcely even 
suspected, still less put to the test of life. It is 
only now that the searching and glorious meaning 
of his spiritual power is beginning to be per- 



EACH AGE FINDING ITS OWN CHRIST. 303 

ceived. . . . If we ask to whom or to what the 
world is looking to-day, in its deepest and most 
earnest heart, for spiritual light and counsel, there 
is but one answer. It is looking to Jesus." I 
will add only one more quotation, which, like the 
ones already given, is representative of a large 
number of earnest thinkers along the same line. 
" It is doubtless occasion for congratulation," says 
William DeWitt Hyde, " that all the systems of 
theology constructed previous to the general ac- 
ceptance of the doctrine of evolution, and the 
universal diffusion of the results of historical and 
Biblical criticism, have ' had their day and ceased 
to be/ Evolution and criticism have given us a 
larger world." 

The realities of the religious experience have 
not changed; but our view-point is changing. 
The Spirit of truth is leading the church into 
a larger vision of the Christ. We are seeing 
the Christ-spirit in life and character, and in all 
beneficent activity that ministers to the needs of 
the human spirit. 

THE END. 



Apr -30 1901 



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